No one really challenged it because of the religious baggage that came with it. During that time, there were a lot of videos of political misconduct, which made our politicians very uncomfortable. Most Middle Eastern countries ended up locking the URL or ignoring it, but Pakistan went and blocked the entire website.ĭo you read that as a knee-jerk reaction or the impetus that the government had been looking for to do something they’d been hoping to do? Noisey: Explain the context for the YouTube ban in Pakistan.Īdil Omar: It was banned in 2012 due to the Innocence of Muslims film, which many deemed blasphemous. I linked up with Adil via Skype to discuss the ban, the video, and the significance of YouTube to the country’s young people. So far, the track has roughly 140,000 views and has garnered significant play on Pakistani television. Adil Omar-who’s collaborated with the likes of B-Real and Xzibit and is one of the region’s most notable rappers-has joined forces with the rapper/comedian Ali Gul Pir, and created the track “#KholoBC,” meant to raise awareness for the ban both worldwide and at home.
Recently, Pakistani artists have taken matters into their own hands. Perhaps the most damning ban has been the government’s stance against YouTube, which has been banned since 2012. In Pakistan, many sites including adult sites and (at times) social media have been banned by the government. They threw stones and fireworks at authorities, and were hit with water cannons for their efforts. Last month in Istanbul, protesters rallied against a bill that would allow the government to block websites without seeking court approval as well as access browsing data. Though we take web neutrality-the idea that people can use the internet however they damn well please, whenever they want-as a given, it’s a huge issue worldwide. The internet of America is not the internet of the rest of the world.
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