Reports on blocking social media over blasphemous content 'false': Pakistan

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on Friday strongly rejected media reports regarding the blocking of social media websites in the country over blasphemous content.

"The media reports of #PTA recommending blocking of social media websites are entirely false," the authority tweeted.

On Friday, Pakistani media reports claimed that PTA`s Chairman, Amir Azeem Bajwa, had called on the government to block social media websites in the country to crack down on the circulation of "blasphemous content" through these mediums.

Quashing this, the authority said that Bajwa`s comments were "misquoted and taken out of context."

The PTA chief addressed a Senate Standing Committee earlier on Friday during which he had allegedly urged the government to formulate a policy and block social media networks, according to Geo News.

He had recommended for "indigenous social networking websites" to be made.

Bajwa also revealed that the telecom authority had received over 8,000 complaints regarding blasphemous content on the internet, and many as 40,000 websites in total have been blocked in Pakistan by the body.