PTA issues notice to Google and Wikipedia

Lahore, 25th December: Pakistan has issued notices to Google and Wikipedia for disseminating sacrilegious content.

According to reports, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued notices on Friday to tech giant Google and the online encyclopedia Wikipedia for disseminating “sacrilegious content” through the platforms.

In a press release, PTA said that it was taking action against Google after receiving “complaints regarding misleading search results associated with ‘Present Khalifa of Islam’ and unauthentic version of Holy Quran uploaded by Ahmadiyya Community on Google Play Store”.

The PTA said that it had approached Google with the directives “to immediately remove the unlawful content” as it was a matter of a “severe nature”.

Press Release: PTA issues Notices to Google Inc. and Wikipedia on account of disseminating sacrilegious content through the platforms. pic.twitter.com/AhG9PHCJS1

— PTA (@PTAofficialpk) December 25, 2020

The statement read, “The platform has been issued with the notice under Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content (Procedure, Oversight and Safeguard) Rules 2020 (“Rules”) to remove the sacrilegious content to avoid any legal action by the regulator.”

The PTA also said that it had received complaints against Wikipedia for “hosting of caricatures of Holy Prophet (PBUH) and dissemination of misleading, wrong, deceptive and deceitful information through articles portraying Mirza Masroor Ahmad as a Muslim”.

PTA has served Wikipedia with a notice after “extensive communication” to remove the “sacrilegious content to avoid any legal action”.

The regulator said, “In case the platforms remain non-compliant, PTA shall be constrained to initiate further action under Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PECA) and Rules 2020.”

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