After the decision of a US court, finally Google has removed the blasphemous video from YouTube. Ministry of Information Technology and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has confirmed that the movie in question “Innocence of Muslims” and around 1000 other links from YouTube are removed now.
For most people in Pakistan, that must be it and after the removal of anti-Islam movie and other related blasphemous video, YouTube should be opened in Pakistan however Google has strong intent to challenge the court’s ruling.
Although the court has not accepted the Google’s challenge of the ruling, but Google is a strong company and it might turn the tables. In the best case scenario, it would be a good strategy for Pakistani government to open the YouTube and devise a policy if Google could challenge the decision and pave its way to uploading the deleted content once again.
It is a good sign to see YouTube functional once again because 3G and 4G auctions are due in a few weeks’ time. Video streaming is one of the major sources of large data chunks being used and the real benefit to the companies will be when people browse through YouTube and such video sites.
Since September 2012, YouTube has been banned in Pakistan and a US court ruled that Google should remove the movie after an actress filed a lawsuit that she had been tricked into appearing in this movie. The scene included in the movie was not intended to be included in this movie.
Whether YouTube will be opened in Pakistan in near future or not, the decision is still pending as Secretary IT Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar, Chairman PTA and Minister of State for IT Anusha Rehman are all in foreign right now. It can only be decided when they arrive back in Pakistan.
