The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has degraded Wikipedia services in the country over non removal of sacrilegious content.

The free online encyclopedia platform was approached by the authority for the removal of the content 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 PTA statement said.

“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. In case of non-compliance by Wikipedia the platform will be blocked within Pakistan,” the statement added.

The restoration of the Wikipedia services in Pakistan is subjected to blocking or removing the reported unlawful contents, stated in the notice.

This isn’t the first time PTA sanctioned the platform. In December 2020, the PTA had issued notices to Wikipedia and Google Inc for “disseminating sacrilegious content”.