Mobilink unblocks Facebook for Blackberry users

Telecom develops filtering software to block blasphemous pages.

KARACHI: Mobilink GSM subscribers are once again able to access social networking websites – including Facebook and Twitter, which were blocked since May 2010 – on their BlackBerry phones as the telecom giant restored these applications after coming out with a content filtering solution early this week.

Mobilink managed to restore applications for BlackBerry users after developing a content filtering solution which blocks specific pages of a website, company’s director of public relations and corporate social responsibility Omar Manzur said. Mobilink BlackBerry users can now browse the internet and access the apps of Facebook and Twitter from their smartphone, he added.

Mobilink is not the only company to have developed a content filtering solution. Ufone also restored the same apps for its BB users after consulting with Research In Motion – Canada-based manufacturer of Blackberry – last December.

The development will likely result in other telecom companies to develop similar technology to protect its customer base.

The apps were banned in 2010 following the orders from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block FB and other websites containing blasphemous content across Pakistan. The move was triggered by a contest on FB that invited participants to draw caricatures of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh).

PTA lifted the ban from Facebook but directed telecom companies to permanently block pages with blasphemous content. RIM didn’t have content filtering technology to block specific pages as a result the telecom sector had to block the entire website.

Recently Ufone was able to develop technology for filtering content, followed by Mobilink – allowing users to access websites such as FB and Twitter using BB while restricting user access to pages with blasphemous content.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2012.