Overview:
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked Wikipedia in Pakistan for rubbish content on Saturday. The reason for blocking the site was they didn’t remove the rubbish content.
What is Wikipedia?
It is a multilingual encyclopedia that is free and online which is maintained and written by Wikipedians. These Wikipedians are also known as the volunteers of the community. They used a wiki-based editing system and had an open collaboration. That’s why they are the largest and most read website in history.
Why is Wikipedia banned in Pakistan?
On Wednesday 1 February 2023, PTA gives 48 hours to Wikipedia and asked them to remove all the reported context from the social media. On February 3, they give a statement in which they said that we remove all the content which is reported and our data shows that this has extended to a full block. But According to PTA, the whole data isn’t removed yet. People use this application for getting basic information and almost every data is available on Wikipedia.
Wikipedia Statement on 3 February:
On Friday they said in their statement “We received a notification on February 3 from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and declared 48 hours to remove the content that they reported. Now, according to our data that it has extended to a full block.
If the country still denies unblocking Wikipedia in Pakistan then they deny access to the 5th largest country in the population. They would lose the largest free knowledge website all over the world. They also said that the blocking of the site will also deny to access the history and culture of Pakistan. It means that if someone out of Pakistan tries to search for something regarding the history and culture of Pakistan then they didn’t get anything.
We will hope for PTA and the government of Pakistan to join Wikipedia again as a human right and restore access to Wikipedia for their people. As a result, the people of Pakistan can share or receive knowledge from Wikipedia. We believed that it is a human right to give access to knowledge to their people.
This is not the first time PTA block any app or website in Pakistan. They block YouTube from 2012 to 2016 and in recent years they blocked Tiktok several times in the Country.
Conclusion:
PTA banned the world’s largest-used website Wikipedia in Pakistan for not removing rubbish content from their website. PTA declared 48 hours to remove all this content but the overall content isn’t removed yet.
See More: Best 5 Apps to Get A Temporary Phone Number
