14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook was recently blocked in Pakistan over content that the country’s Muslim majority found offensive. The spark was a Facebook group that encouraged users to submit drawings of the Prophet Mohammed, an act considered ‘blasphemous’ by many Muslims. Now, a Pakistani court has lifted the ban after Facebook apparently agreed to block the offensive material in the country.
It began with a Facebook group called “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” The group itself was started in response to the South Park recent Mohammed controversy. The show’s creators depicted the Prophet as wearing a bear suit, but the second part of the two-part episode was censored to bleep out all references to Mohammed and block images depicting him in any form.
Muslim groups in Pakistan and other countries were offended by the Facebook group and lobbied for its deletion or for banning Facebook altogether. A Pakistani court issued an all-out ban last week, which has now been reverted after the social network apparently agreed to several terms. One of these is that Facebook will not show any blasphemous material in the country.
YouTube was also blocked in Pakistan, one day after the Facebook ban, but access was later partially restored, with some offending videos still unavailable. Other websites were affected by the ban as well. A further court hearing into the matter is scheduled for June 15 in the country. Bangladesh has also just instituted a Facebook ban.
Different countries, cultures and individuals have different views as to what constitutes ‘objectionable’ material and what doesn’t. Most of the free or democratic world managed to find a balance between free speech and freedom of expression and the protection of individual beliefs. For some countries, though, the balance sways more majority bullying. The best example of this in general relates to Muslims and the Prophet Mohammed.