WordPress Faces a Temporary Ban in Pakistan Because of Security Reasons
In a bid to stop spreading blasphemous content within the natives of Pakistan, the Islamic nation has banned the open-source blogging tool Wordpress.com. The website is not accessible in Pakistan as of now, and all the blogs hosted by the content management tool have been jammed. However, the self-hosted blogs by WordPress are still functional.
Meanwhile, visitors trying to access WordPress are directed to the message, “This website is not accessible.” The error message that appears on the websites in Pakistan is given in the screen-grab below:
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the regulatory body responsible for looking after telecommunications in the nation clarified the ban as a step for the welfare of the nation. It said that WordPress was put under restriction because of a “national security related issue.” According to hackread.com, an insider from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said that it will be a temporary ban and has been enforced because of its use by the terrorist group Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is operational in Pakistan.
Pakistan has banned many social networking sites in the past. Previously, they imposed a temporary ban on Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, and few more websites. The authority also discontinued YouTube in 2012 saying that it will be for a while, but the locals of Pakistan are not able to open the video-sharing website till date. Seems like Pakistan, just like the Indian authorities, finds it easy to block content they cannot bring under their control.
WordPress is one of the most prominent content management tool which is used by several websites on the internet. For now, the ban is said to be temporary but if it is extended it would be an issue for all the Pakistani websites who use WordPress to manage their content. We’ll bring you more updates as more developments come in. Keep checking iGyaan for more.
