Pakistan Gets YouTube Back After Muslim Protests

A special version of the video sharing site is launched allowing Pakistani officials to block content they believe is offensive.

Protesters demonstrate against the film in Amman, Jordan, in 2012

Pakistan has lifted a three-year ban on YouTube instigated after a video critical of Islam was uploaded to the site in 2012.

The film Innocence of Muslims sparked deadly demonstrations in Pakistan, other Muslim countries across the world and in western countries with large Muslim populations.

The US ambassador to Libya was killed during one protest and people also lost their lives in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan.

In response to the ban YouTube has now launched a special version of its video sharing service just for Pakistan which gives government officials access to remove content it considers to be offensive.

Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom said in a statement that under the new version of YouTube, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority can ask for access to offending material to be blocked.

"On the recommendation of PTA, Government of Pakistan has allowed access to recently launched country version of YouTube for Internet users in Pakistan," the ministry said.

"Google has provided an online web process through which requests for blocking access of the offending material can be made by PTA to Google directly and Google/YouTube will accordingly restrict access to the said offending material for users within Pakistan."

Insulting Islam carries the death penalty in Pakistan, although no such sentence has ever been carried out.

A YouTube spokesperson said: "We have clear community guidelines, and when videos violate those rules, we remove them. 

"In addition, where we have launched YouTube locally and we are notified that a video is illegal in that country, we may restrict access to it after a thorough review.

"Government requests to remove content will continue to be tracked, and included in our Transparency Report."