The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued notices to Google and online encyclopedia Wikipedia for not removing “sacrilegious content” through the platforms and mentioned urgency “to immediately remove the unlawful content” as it was a matter of a “very serious nature”.
The PTA 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”.
The PTA said that they have served Wikipedia with a notice after “extensive communication” to remove the “sacrilegious content to avoid any legal action”.
PTA stated In a press release that it is planning initiate action against Google after receiving “complaints regarding misleading search results associated with ‘Present Khalifa of Islam’ and unauthentic version of Holy Quran uploaded on Google Play Store”.
“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 statement read.
“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,” said the regulator.
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