The Pakistani government plans to unblock access to YouTube within the next 24 hours, according to information detailed on federal interior minister Rehman Malik’s Twitter feed.
The decision comes after a three-month embargo against the video sharing site, one that arrived in the wake of YouTube’s decision to not remove the movie trailer for the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which sparked riots and widespread dissension throughout many parts of the world.
Friday on Twitter, Sen. Malik announced that he chaired a high-level meeting with members of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on the future of YouTube’s presence in Pakistan. According to Malik, the committee settled on the decision to unblock YouTube but acquire “powerful firewall software” that would “totally block pornographic and blasphemous material” from showing up on YouTube throughout Pakistan.
“There was a [great] demand to unblock [YouTube] from all sections of society,” Malik wrote, “esp. fellow tweeps. Expect the notification today!”
No word yet on what that powerful firewall software entails or where exactly the line will be drawn concerning what is pornographic and blasphemous and what is not.
Rest assured, however, that Innocence of Muslims will not be making the cut.
Update: After only a couple of hours at most, Pakistan reinstated its ban on YouTube after discovering that Innocence of Muslims was still viewable, according to a report by The Hindu.
Photo via Rehman Malik
