As we all know now Facebook as well as other Social Media platforms are cracking down on what is deemed as “Hate Speech” or “Offensive” and now one Muslim Nation is calling on the Social Media Giants to put their foot down on “Blasphemous Content“. According to reports, Pakistan is asking Facebook and Twitter to help it identify Pakistanis suspected of blasphemy so that it can prosecute them or pursue their extradition. Sources state that, Under Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws, any person found to have insulted Islam or the Prophet Muhammad can be sentenced to death.
The report even went on to say that the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan stated that an official in Pakistan’s Washington embassy had approached the two social media giants in an effort to identify Pakistanis, either within the country or abroad, who recently shared material that is deemed offensive to Islam. Apparently, Facebook didn’t shoot down the proposal because the report indicated that the interior ministry stated that Facebook had agreed to send a team to Pakistan to address reservations about content on the social media site, according to the BBC.
So will this be the next step with Social Media? Are we going to begin to see people flagged and prosecuted for posting content that is deemed “Blasphemous” to Islam? Even recently in Canada, we reported how a resolution called M-103 had been introduced with the intent of seeking to condemn what is deemed “Islamophobia,”. Will these same rules apply to other religions? Will we eventually see a total ban of ALL religious content on Social Media?
