Pakistan Hasn't Banned Facebook Yet... But It Might Soon
from the overreact-much? dept
Last year, we reported on an attempt to ban Facebook throughout all of Pakistan, due to a group on the site that some Muslims found offensive (the group was supporting an "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" following a controversy on that subject). It seemed positively silly to ban an entire site based on how one small group of people used that site, but we've seen it happen in a number of countries. Apparently there was a ruling on this that was made back in February, but was just released, which, while sympathetic to the idea of banning Facebook, decided not to issue the ban. Of course, the EFF report on this also notes that a new petition to ban Facebook is going to be heard later this week anyway, so there will be yet another chance to completely block the site due to how a few folks used it. That original post from last year got a bunch of comments from Pakistan defending the idea of blocking Facebook, but I'm still at a loss to see how it makes sense to block an entire site over a single particular use.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Seems consistent with proposed US policy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Seems consistent with proposed US policy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hang on...why the ban on pictures? I can somewhat understand if it was a ban on pictures of God, seeing as "oh he's divine and its against divine law to worship lowly pictures of him drawn by man" but wasn't Mohammed considered a man and just a man? (I know, God's last prophet apparently) so...are they now equating this man with God? I thought Islam was against that!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Soon a cry will go out via SMS everywhere.. a cry of loss, a cry to save them from the perils of boredom, a cry to bring back the social platform of their dreams.
Please somebody.. before it's too late
THINK OF THE TEENAGERS!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pakistan! What a country! Or is it a country?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Pakistan! What a country! Or is it a country?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Pakistan! What a country! Or is it a country?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
tunnelvision
Facebook is used by the revolutionaries to organize all around the Arabic speaking world. I'm currently working in Saudi Arabia and this world is falling apart, country after country. I think that has far more to do with banning FB than people drawing pictures.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]