Block objectionable content, Pakistan tells Youtube after warning TikTok, Bigo Live
Pakistani regulators have asked YouTube to immediately block all videos they consider “objectionable” from being accessed in the united states, a demand criticised by rights campaigners.
There are already fears about creeping censorship and muzzling of the press and activists in Muslim-majority Pakistan, with existing or proposed restrictions limiting free speech, usually in the name of Islam or national security.
In a statement Thursday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said it has asked YouTube to “immediately block vulgar, indecent, immoral, nude and hate speech content for viewing in Pakistan”.
The PTA said viewing such content has “extremely unwanted effects” and may foster “repugnant discord”.
YouTube didn't immediately respond to a obtain comment Friday, and a PTA spokesman declined to discuss the authority’s next thing if the Google-owned platform will not comply.
In July, the PTA issued your final warning to Chinese-owned social media software TikTok, ordering it to filter any obscene content.
In addition, it blocked the video-streaming software Bigo Live, although ban was lifted after a couple of days once the platform agreed to moderate “immoral and indecent content”.
This is not the 1st time Pakistani authorities have targeted YouTube.
It had been blocked in the Muslim-majority country in 2012 after a US-made film that negatively depicted the Prophet Mohammed and triggered violent protests across the Islamic world.
Access was restored in 2016 after YouTube launched a country-specific version ensuring the filtering of content deemed blasphemous.
Free speech campaigners were quick to criticise the latest PTA demand.
“The PTA will not make any effort to narrowly tailor its request or define what this means by terms such as for example ‘vulgar’ and ‘immoral’,” digital rights advocate Nighat Dad told AFP.
While countries can ask social media platforms to remove specific content relative to local law, YouTube will not always comply if the requests not in favor of international norms and principles, she added.
“Social media companies such as YouTube have various human rights commitments and... need to uphold principles associated with the right to privacy, freedom of expression and right to usage of information.”
In a recent try to tighten control, lawmakers in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, passed a bill last month that seeks to place publishers in prison if they print or import material with “objectionable” content.
The Punjab governor hasn't yet signed it into law.
