Pakistan court suspends order seeking YouTube ban on government critics

ISLAMABAD (Reuters): A Pakistani court on Friday suspended an order seeking to ban the YouTube channels of more than two dozen critics of the government including former Prime Minister Imran Khan, a defense lawyer said.

Alphabet-owned YouTube this week told 27 content creators that it could block their channels — including those of journalists and Khan and his opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf — if they failed to comply with a judicial magistrate court order seeking to ban them.

A regional communication manager for YouTube did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment.

The judicial magistrate court in Islamabad had said it was seeking the ban after the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency criticized the channels in a June 2 report for “sharing highly intimidating, provocative and derogatory contents against state institutions and officials of the state of Pakistan.”

The decision to suspend the order was taken by an additional sessions judge, said Imaan Mazari, the lawyer for two of the YouTube content creators.

In Pakistan, an additional sessions judge is a judicial officer who presides over a sessions court, handling both civil and criminal cases.

“Our submission is that the order has no legal basis. It was a one-sided decision without giving defense a chance to be heard,” Mazari said.

She also said the magistrate court had no jurisdiction over the matter.

The next hearing in the sessions court is on July 21.

In Pakistan’s judicial system, cases start at civil and judicial magistrate courts and appeals are heard in high courts and the Supreme Court.

Digital rights campaigners say that any ban would further undermine free speech in Pakistan, where the authorities are accused of stifling newspapers and television, and social media is seen as one of the few outlets for dissent.