Pakistan Kills the YouTube Star (then brings it back to life)

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Brian and team, who work for a digital marketing agency run this Digital Crosstalk blog.
Occasionally we might blog about companies and people we work with but for the most part we'll simply be blogging about stories and events which we find interesting.

28th
FEB

Pakistan Kills the YouTube Star (then brings it back to life)

Posted by Brian | Filed under blogging

Pakistan has denied claims that the government was responsible for blocking access to YouTube in Feb 2007. A spokesperson for the Pakistani Telecoms Authority (PTA) claimed the problem was caused by a “malfunction”. However, it has been reported by the BBC that the PTA issued a blocking order for YouTube following a video clip being posted, that was considered by the Pakistani government to be “very blasphemous”.

The banning has of course received much criticism from the world of the internet, though some are simply surprised that it took them this long; others predict it will happen again. The blocking action inadvertently created problems for YouTube users around the world, cutting of global access to the site for two hours. Full service has now been resumed.

Pakistan is not the first state to take offence to material posted on YouTube. Morocco, Turkey and Thailand have all blocked or restricted access to YouTube in the last 12 months. In the case of Turkey, the reason for the ban was a “virtual war” between Greek and Turkish users posting insulting videos.

Moroccans faced a similar, though less transparent ban of YouTube when access to the site was stopped in May 2007. Though the government have not openly admitted the block, many bloggers believe the move was a result of pro-independence video demonstrations in Western Sahara. And Thailand banned YouTube for five months after a video insulting the king was uploaded.

Picture from TechShout.com