Pakistan has become the latest country to censor internet access following so called sacrilegious content being posted on Facebook and YouTube. A Facebook competition which invited users to post drawings and images representing the prophet Mohammed has sparked outrage amongst Muslims who find the content offensive and blasphemous. YouTube was blocked a day after Facebook when it was found that similar content was being posted on the video-sharing site.
The censorship has angered many internet users in the country, where there are 2.5 million Facebook members, but was enforced amid fears that the images would lead to street violence.
Despite the outrage at the outright ban on the sites, there have been parallels drawn between the blocking of content relating to the Holocaust and Nazism in certain Western countries and censoring this content, which offends followers of Islam.
The Pakistani government is planning to review the decision at the end of the month.
Gemma Houghton
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