New Delhi, March 23: WordPress.com is inaccessible to internet users in Pakistan, after the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority asked SIPs to block access to the blogging platform. While self-hosted WordPress blogs still work, free blogs hosted on the platform are now are now inaccessible to internet users in Pakistan, Techcrunch reported.
Internet users in Pakistan see the message above when trying to access blogs and sites hosted on wordpress.com.
According to Hackread, the blogging platform was blocked for ”National Security Related Issues.”, as it was used by the Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a terrorist group active in Pakistan. The PTA does not have software to ban specific domains.
WordPress is the 34’th most visited web site in Pakistan, according to Alexa. In the past, the Pakistan government has blocked Facebook, Flickr, IMDb, Twitter and Wikipedia temporarily for hosting content that it sees as blasphemous and inflammatory.
ProPakistani.pk reports that the block is temporary, the site will be unblocked tomorrow. Internet users from Pakistan took to Twitter to express outrage over the block.
The morons in the IT ministry have blocked WordPress in Pakistan. There’ll be no Youtube and WordPress in Roshan Pakistan.
— Aamir Saeed (@AamirSaeed313) March 22, 2015
With no heads or tails – Youtube remains blocked in #Pakistan – they add #Wordpress to the list – who thinks for these idiots #Censorship
— Awab Alvi (@DrAwab) March 22, 2015
Pakistan doesn’t flog bloggers. It eradicates blogging altogether. http://t.co/DepamfYxuB now blocked.
— Omar Waraich (@OmarWaraich) March 22, 2015
Ouch – http://t.co/KGzdOxsgtI blocked in Pakistan – @TechCrunch @TIME & all sites using http://t.co/uGpK4B7exT CDN has broken images.
— WordPress Beginner (@wpbeginner) March 22, 2015
WordPress blocked for National security! Don’t they know that proxies/VPNs allow you to circumvent that? #Pakistan
— Shoaib Taimur (@shobz) March 22, 2015
