Pakistan blocked access to YouTube today because of "sacrilegious" content in a growing internet crackdown against sites believed offensive to the country's majority Muslim population.
The move against the video-sharing website came a day after the government blocked access to Facebook amid anger over a page on the social networking site that encourages users to post images of Islam's Prophet Mohammed. Islam prohibits any images of the prophet.
Regulators the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) did not point to specific material on YouTube that prompted it to block the site, only citing "growing sacrilegious contents."
The government acted against both Facebook and YouTube after it failed to persuade the websites to remove the "derogatory material," it said.
It asked representatives from the two websites to contact the Pakistani government to resolve the dispute in a way that "ensures religious harmony and respect."
The PTA said it has blocked more than 450 internet links containing offensive material, but it is unclear how many happened in the last two days.
The government blocked Facebook after a group of Islamic lawyers won a court order requiring officials to restrict access to the site until May 31. It was unclear if the ban against YouTube also would be temporary.
The Facebook page "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" encourages users to post images of the prophet on May 20 to protest at threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of the animated American television series "South Park" for depicting Mohammed in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.
The page sparked protests from radical students in Pakistan, with some holding signs urging Islamic holy war against those who blaspheme the prophet.
A series of cartoons of the prophet published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 sparked violent protests by Muslims around the world, including in Pakistan, and death threats against the cartoonists.
In an attempt to respond to public anger over the Facebook dispute, the Pakistani government ordered internet service providers in the country to block the controversial page on Tuesday.
But members of the Islamic Lawyers Forum asked the Lahore High Court yesterday to order the government to fully block Facebook because it allowed the page to be posted in the first place.
"Such malicious and insulting attacks hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world and cannot be accepted under the garb of freedom of expression," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Facebook said: "While the content does not violate our terms, we do understand it may not be legal in some countries.
"In cases like this, the approach is sometimes to restrict certain content from being shown in specific countries."
Online reaction to the Facebook ban was supportive in the initial hours after it was implemented. But comments on Twitter - which was still unblocked and drawing new users thanks to bans on other sites - showed many internet users were angry about the wide-ranging restrictions.
"Sad and embarrassing day in the history of Pakistan. Tough times to be a Pakistani. Questionable decisions in a so called 'democracy,'" one user tweeted.
Pakistan blocked access to YouTube for two days in 2008 because of what it said was unIslamic content. Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia and Morocco have all blocked access to YouTube in the past for various reasons.