Pakistan issues notices to Google, Wikipedia for disseminating 'sacrilegious content'

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Friday issued notices to search engine giant Google and online encyclopedia Wikipedia for disseminating "sacrilegious content" through the platforms.

Authority in a press release said that it has been receiving complaints regarding "misleading search results associated with 'present khalifa of Islam' and an unauthentic version of the Holy Quran uploaded by the Ahmedi community on Google Play Store".

The PTA said that it has approached officials of Google with the directives "to immediately remove the unlawful content" as it was a matter of a "very serious nature".

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

Furthermore, the Regulatory Authority 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".

"After extensive communication on the matter, Wikipedia has been finally served with the notice to remove the sacrilegious content to avoid any legal action," the statement 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," said the regulator.