SC talks about potential YouTube ban in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan has talked about a potential YouTube ban in Pakistan taking notice of objectionable content found on the video sharing platform and other social media websites.

YouTube Ban in Pakistan, Supreme Court — Supreme Court talks about potential YouTube ban in Pakistan

At a hearing today, Justice Qazi Amin along with Justice Mushir Alam showed concern over the objectionable content on the YouTube and other social media website particularly targeting the judiciary, the army and the Pakistan Government.

At a hearing, Justice Qazi Amin said:

We are not against the freedom of expression and the public has every right to discuss and raise questions regarding our performance since our salaries are paid for by public money,
However, the constitution gives us the right to privacy and users on social media platforms and YouTube are targeting our families.

Justice Amin asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) whether they had taken notice of the content shared on YouTube recently and taken action against the people responsible for such objectionable content.

A PTA official responded that they could not change or remove any such content but can only report it to YouTube.

The court hinted at placing a YouTube ban in Pakistan as Justice Alam said that the video sharing platform was banned in several countries and no one was allowed to share any objectionable content against the United States or European countries.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has already blocked Bigo and issued a final warning to TikTok to regulate content according to the country’s law otherwise the short video sharing app will be banned in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) also placed a ban on the popular online multiplayer game PlayersUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) saying that it was a waste of time and caused negative psychological impact on youth on the suggestion of a police officer who may be in procession of a psychology degree to make such claims.

However, a YouTube ban in Pakistan is nothing new as the video sharing and streaming site has been banned before for three years which greatly hindered the content creation within Pakistan. The country is far behind others when it comes to YouTube content creation simply because of the earlier ban.

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