On May 20th, the Pakistani government banned public access to Twitter for eight hours. The official statement by the government claimed the reason for the ban was due to content on Twitter that was offensive to Islam. If this story sounds familiar, it’s because the Pakistani government banned Facebook for similar reasons in 2010.
Religion is one of the most commonly used excuses behind censorship. Remember the Catholic Church’s public denouncement of The Da Vinci Code? Or the fatwa issued on Salman Rushdie? Those are only two examples of when a religious majority did not agree with an author’s work and tried prevent it from influencing the general populace.
When religion is the reason behind censorship, it becomes almost impossible for people to voice their discontent without offending the religious group involved. If a book or movie contains content that is offensive to one’s religion or content that portrays said religion in a negative light, how can one support public consumption of this material?
However, the Pakistani Twitter ban is interesting because resulted in a public outcry uniting much of the nation. Many of the country’s Twitter users accessed Twitter via a proxy server and used it to express their discontent with the Twitter ban.
This reaction is especially interesting considering that 97% of the Pakistani population is Muslim. Why would this Muslim majority not support a ban that blocks content offensive to Islam? (Note: the controversial material included tweets urging people to draw the likeness of Prophet Mohammed, an act which is considered offensive by most Muslims). These bans have proven to work in the past. Pakistan’s Facebook ban ended after 2 weeks when Facebook removed the offensive material. So why the public outcry against the Twitter ban?
Consider two important facts. First, although the offensive content was considered blasphemous to Islam, Pakistan was the only country to ban the website. For example, why did Saudi Arabia and Iran, both Muslim theocracies continue to allow their citizens access to the site, yet Pakistan, a republic, felt the need to ban the website? Secondly, less than 2% of the Pakistani population uses Twitter, which means less than 2% of the population would have had access to the offensive content. In fact, by banning the website and thereby giving it media attention the Pakistani government exponentially increased the chances of the general population even learning of the existence of such content.
It’s safe to say that banning a website to protect the religious sensibilities of 2% of the population does not make much sense. It is far more likely in fact, that the ban was an attempt by the government to control a forum of communication where users are free to express their views, and often their discontent, regarding the government. Most of Pakistan’s Twitter users represent a liberal mindset and a vast majority oppose the current government as well as the military.
As it became clear from the Arab Spring as well as the London Riots last year social media can play an important role in a revolution. The ability to communicate easily with a massive group of people has made it easier for people to stay updated, organize protests as well as to spread awareness.
Governments, whether democratically elected or not, appear to have come to the conclusion that it would be in their best interest to control these forms of communication. Pakistan’s ban of Twitter represents a growing trend, not just in developing nations, but in countries the world over to control and limit access to the internet.
With the introduction of the SOPA/PIPA bills in the U.S, Canada’s Bill C-30 and ACTA, the multinational trade agreement that ostensibly protects intellectual property rights, it is becoming increasingly clear that internet freedom will soon be a thing of the past.
Yet, these bills merely graze the surface of violating internet freedoms. Our right to privacy and our freedom of expression are both at risk. How far will we let it go before we say enough? At what point will the public take notice and speak up?
And the bigger question: Is it already too late?
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