Pakistan Threatens Google And Wikipedia; Know Why

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued notices to Google and Wikipedia, asking them to remove “unlawful content” with immediate effect.

The country’s telecom regulator pointed out pages where religious leader Mirza Masroor Ahmad is named as the current ‘Khalifa’ or leader of Islam, thus contradicting dominant religious beliefs in Pakistan. They also criticized an “unauthentic version of Holy Quran” on Google Play Store, the New Indian Express reported.

“Complaints were also received regarding hosting of caricatures of Holy Prophet (PBUH) and dissemination of misleading, wrong, deceptive and deceitful information through articles published on Wikipedia portraying Mirza Masroor Ahmad as a Muslim,” the PTA stated on its official Twitter handle.

“In case the platforms remain non-compliant, PTA shall be constrained to initiate further action under Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PECA) and Rules 2020,” PTA threatened.

The Imran Khan-headed government recently approved a draft policy seeking to exercise greater control over the digital sphere.

The move triggered a backlash, with critics saying that a law to that effect will open the door to mass censorship.