Twitter Censors ‘Blasphemous’ Tweets

For the first time since Twitter has been operating in Pakistan, the site has begun to censor tweets deemed “blasphemous” or “unethical” by bureaucrats in the Pakistani government. Five of the requests that resulted in censorship this month included drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, images of burning Qurans, porn star Belle Knox of Duke fame, and tweets from anti-Islam bloggers. Most of the accounts under the request came in anticipation of “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” on May 20. Pakistan’s heavy-handed blasphemy laws have garnered global attention recently due to the murders of secularists accused of breaking the law. For its part, Twitter argues it’s better to block certain tweets than have the entire site blocked.