Pakistan has blocked the popular video sharing website YouTube in a bid to contain 'blasphemous' material, officials said on Thursday.
The blockade came hours after the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) directed Internet service providers to stop access to social network Facebook indefinitely on Wednesday because of an online competition to draw the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
Wahaj-us-Siraj, the CEO of Nayatel, an Internet service provider, said PTA issued an order late on Wednesday seeking an immediate blockade of YouTube.
It was a serious instruction as they wanted us to do it quickly and let them know after that, he told a foreign news agency.
YouTube was also blocked in Pakistan in 2007 for about a day for what it called un-Islamic videos.