No timeline for reopening YouTube: IT Minister

By
AFP
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No timeline for reopening YouTube: IT Minister
ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information Technology, Anusha Rehman Khan on Monday said efforts were being made to develop software for blocking unwanted material from the internet so that YouTube could be opened in Pakistan. She, however, said no timeline could be given for the reopening of YouTube.

Talking to media, Anusha said a team of experts was working to block sites containing blasphemous material and over 2,700 such sites had already been blocked. Anusha further said YouTube was closed in Pakistan on the orders of the Supreme Court because it contained blasphemous material. The decision in this regard was taken by the Inter-Ministerial Committee, which was being given technical assistance by the Ministry of Information and Technology for the resumption of the site, she added.

Replying to a question, the State Minister for Information Technology said it was very difficult as every site containing blasphemous material had to be closed manually. Software needed to be developed for automatically detecting and blocking such websites having blasphemous material. According to Anusha YouTube would be opened when all objectionable and blasphemous material was deleted.

The minister said Google was also not cooperating with Pakistan in this regard.