ISLAMABAD: Social networking website Twitter has been blocked in Pakistan. According to the Ministry of Information Technology, twitter was blocked because it failed to respond and take action regarding the publishing of blasphemous content.
The IT ministry claims that calls made to Twitter authorities over the matter remained unanswered. The micro-blogging website is used quite often for the promotion of a blasphemous competition run on Facebook.
"The website has been banned by Ministry of Information Technology and the decision was conveyed to us. There was blasphemous material on Twitter," said Mohammad Younis Khan, spokesman for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
In 2010 following a Lahore High Court ruling, facebook was blocked in Pakistan for the same reason. Twitter has grown in popularity in the last few years and it is estimated that an approximate 6 million people use it in Pakistan.