The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has completely blocked the publicly edited online encyclopedia Wikipedia in Pakistan two days after it downgraded its services in the country over an issue involving sacrilegious content.

The Wikipedia Foundation has called on Pakistan to “restore access to Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects in the country immediately” saying the blockage of Wikipedia in Pakistan denies “the fifth most populous nation in the world access to the largest free knowledge repository.”

Since Friday afternoon internet users in Pakistan are unable to access Wikipedia.

On February 1, the PTA announced that it was downgrading Wikipedia services in Pakistan over Wikipedia Foundation’s refusal to remove “sacrilegious content”.

The authority had warned that if Wikipedia failed to remove the objectionable content, it would face a complete blackout in the country.

The PTA warning came into force after the Wikipedia Foundation refused to comply with the instructions about sacrilegious content.

Over 50 million pageviews

In Pakistan, English Wikipedia receives more than 50 million pageviews per month, followed by Urdu and Russian Wikipedias, the Wikipedia Foundation in a statement.

There is also a sizable and engaged community of editors in Pakistan that contribute historical and educational content, it said.

To put things into perspective, some of the most popular Pakistani news websites receive far fewer than 50 million pageviews per month.

This indicate Wikipedia one of the most important sources of information for Pakistanis.

PTA warning

In its original statement on Thursday, the authority said it had allowed Wikipedia an opportunity for a hearing but no local representative appeared before the authority nor did the platform remove the “sacrilegious contents”.

No control over edits

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world. The Wikimedia Foundation’s role is limited to hosting the content.

Anyone with a Wikipedia account can edit a piece of information while others are free to re-edit, update, or modify the same piece of information.

Since it is an open platform, often articles edited by individuals to spread misinformation are restored within minutes.

“The Wikimedia Foundation does not make decisions around what content is included on Wikipedia or how that content is maintained. This is by design to ensure that articles are the result of many people coming together to determine what information should be presented on the site, resulting in richer, more neutral articles,” according to the statement issued by the foundation.

“We respect and support the editorial decisions made by the community of editors around the world. There are dedicated response channels available to individuals, organizations, or governments that would like to raise concerns about the site’s content directly with volunteer editors for their consideration and review. This contributes to Wikipedia’s transparency and upholds its collaborative model,” it added.