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Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has degraded the services of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia in the South-Asian country for not removing the sacrilegious contents despite issuing a notice, the official release of Information and Communication Technology services of Pakistan said.
According to the official statement, a notice under applicable law and a court order was given to the services alongside an opportunity for a hearing, however, the platform did not pay heed to it, forcing the PTA to take a difficult decision. "PTA has degraded Wikipedia services in the country on account of not blocking/removing sacrilegious contents. Wikipedia was approached for blocking/removal of the said contents by issuing a notice under applicable law and court order(s). An opportunity of hearing was also provided, however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the Authority," the official statement of Pakistan Telecom Authority said in an official release. According to the regulatory body, in case of non-compliance by Wikipedia, the platform will be blocked within #Pakistan. "Given the intentional failure on part of the platform to comply with the directions of PTA, the services of Wikipedia have been degraded for 48 hours with the direction to block/remove the reported contents," the official release of PTA said. The Telecom Authority said that Wikipedia's services will only be restored when any reported illegal content has been blocked or removed. (ANI)
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