Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over What It Calls Blasphemous Material

The Pakistani government has blocked the social networking website Twitter because of material considered offensive to Islam.

AP quoted the chairman of Pakistan's telecommunications authority, Mohammad Yaseen, as saying the website was blocked on May 20 because Twitter refused to remove material related to a competition on Facebook to post images of Islam's Prophet Mohammad.

Yaseen added that Facebook agreed to address Pakistan's concerns but officials have not been able to get Twitter to do the same.

Many Muslims regard visual depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.

A similar competition on Facebook in 2010 provoked Pakistan to block Facebook for around two weeks.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP