Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over Material Deemed Blasphemous

The Pakistani government has blocked the social networking site Twitter because of material it deemed an affront to Islam, a government official said on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Information Technology said Twitter was blocked Sunday because the site did not remove links and references to a competition on Facebook to post images of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

"The government is in contact with Twitter and had asked them to remove the material. When they didn't, it was decided that the site would be blocked," said spokesman Naveed Ahmed.

The teachings of Islam prohibit images of God and Muhammad.

Ahmed said officials from Pakistan's Telecommunications Authority will meet Monday to see where things stand with their demand for Twitter to remove the material and what to do next.

There was no immediate comment from Twitter or Facebook.

Posted in: Asia,Middle East