Pakistan has banned the access to Facebook because of the controversial "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" competition leading Facebook to issue strong comments about the importance of freedom of speech - right before India blocked the access to the page.
The "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was on May 20, and a "freedom of speech" protest against Islamic extremists who threaten by death against anyone who dares render an image of the prophet Mohammed. It all began with the censorship of a South Parkep isode in which Mohammed appeared, leading to death threats against creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and quickly picked up steam.
Now, the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" Facebook group has attracted well over 115,000 fans.
The nation of Pakistan is not among them, however. Following a court order, the access to Facebook from within the country was blocked entirely. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority also blocked access to YouTube for carrying "sacrilegious content."
Facebook representatives responded by saying that they were "disappointed" with this decision but insisted that they won't remove the offending page. "We strongly believe that Facebook users have the freedom to express their opinions, and we don't typically have a content, groups or pages that speak against countries, religions, political entities or ideas" the company said in a statement.
But don't get too excited about freedom just yet. Facebook may be talking about the Pakistan situation but it's taken a slightly different approach with India, where it has voluntarily blocked access to the controversial page. "It is out of respect for the local regulations, standards and customs, so we decided to restrict access to the 'Everyone Draw Mohammed!' page in India, after being contacted by authorities and reviewing the matter closely", a Facebook rep said yesterday. "We have not removed the Page from Facebook, but have only restricted access to it from India."
Source: escapistmagazine.com
Suggestion for all Pakistanis to unblock blocked site read this post
Liked this post?Why not to Subscribe to Unblock Blocked Site news by Email for FREE
No comments:
Post a Comment