Twitter is banned in Pakistan

Islamabad: After Facebook and YouTube, it is the social networking website Twitter, which has been blocked by the Pakistani authorities. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked the website citing that it contains blasphemous contents.

The blocking of websites in Pakistan began with the ban on Facebook, followed by an order issued by the Lahore High Court. The website faced the restriction over a page, hosting a contest for blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Mohammad.

According to PTA, YouTube had been blocked due to "sacrilegious contents". However, it did not point to specific material on the website that prompted the authorities to block it. The government acted against both Facebook and YouTube after it failed to persuade the websites to remove the "derogatory material", according to a statement by PTA.

As the internet service providers has blocked access to Twitter, Pakistani users no longer have the access to the website. So far, the Pakistani authorities have blocked more than 450 URLs.