The news will come as a sigh of relief to internet users across Pakistan. For those who thought it would never happen – we agreed with you! But according to the latest reports, a Senate Standing Committee has come to the conclusion that the YouTube ban in Pakistan is no longer valid.
The Google-owned video sharing portal provides more benefits to the public and business sector, and blocking it throughout the nation has done more damage than good. Media reports suggest that a discussion between the Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and the Senate Standing Committee led to the resolution that YouTube should be unblocked.
A few questionable videos are no reason to block an entire catalog of useful and educational content. Moreover, other Muslim nations including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have not blocked YouTube, as was pointed out by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
YouTube was blocked across Pakistan on September 17th, 2012 when Google flat-out refused to take down a blasphemous video preview of the film ‘Innocence of Muslims’, directed by Sam Bacile.
Though, it’s probably worth mentioning that even this ‘nationwide ban’ didn’t stop tech-savvy Pakistani’s from accessing the video-sharing platform via proxy servers.