posted on May, 31 2010 @ 05:13 PM
Facebook has lost face
www.huffingtonpost.com...
Facebook Censors 'Everybody Draw Mohammad Day' Page, Pakistan Lifts Ban
The move came almost two weeks after Pakistan imposed the ban amid anger over a page that encouraged users to post images of Islam's Prophet
Muhammad. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.
"In response to our protest, Facebook has tendered their apology and informed us that all the sacrilegious material has been removed from the URL,"
said Najibullah Malik, secretary of Pakistan's information technology ministry, referring to the technical term for a Web page.
Facebook assured the Pakistani government that "nothing of this sort will happen in the future," Malik said.
Officials from the website could not immediately be reached for comment. They said earlier the contents of the "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" page
did not violate Facebook's terms.
The page encouraged users to post images of the prophet to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of the American TV
series "South Park" for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.
Pakistan blocked Facebook on May 19 following a ruling by one of the country's highest courts. The Lahore High Court reversed its ruling Monday
because of Facebook's response, paving the way for the government to restore access, Malik said.
The government will continue to block some Web pages that contain "sacrilegious material," but Malik declined to specify which ones.
The Facebook controversy sparked a handful of protests across Pakistan, many by student members of radical Islamic groups. Some of the protesters
carried signs advocating holy war against the website for allowing the page.