YouTube Blocked Restrictions Removed in Pakistan
In some countries YouTube is completely blocked, either through a long term standing ban or for more limited periods of time such as during periods of unrest, the run-up to an election, or in response to upcoming political anniversaries. In other countries access to the website as a whole remains open, but access to specific videos is blocked. In cases where the entire site is banned due to one particular video, YouTube will often agree to remove or limit access to that video in order to restore service.
As of September 2012, countries with standing national bans on YouTube include China, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan. YouTube is also mostly blocked in Germany from YouTube’s side due to disputes between GEMA and YouTube over royalties.
YouTube’s Terms of Service prohibit the posting of videos which violate copyrights or depict pornography, illegal acts, gratuitous violence, or hate speech. User-posted videos that violate such terms may be removed and replaced with a message stating: “This video is no longer available because its content violated YouTube’s Terms of Service”.
Businesses, schools, government agencies, and other private institutions often block social media sites, including YouTube, due to bandwidth limitations and the site’s inevitable potential for distraction.
Afghanistan:
On September 12, 2012 YouTube was blocked in Afghanistan in response to the controversial film about Muhammad, Innocence of Muslims, which is considered blasphemous by Muslims. YouTube was unblocked in Afghanistan on December 1, 2012.