Efforts under way to block anti-Islam film trailer from viewers in Maldives

The Communications Authority of Maldives has commenced efforts to block the trailer of the anti-Islam film mocking Prophet Muhammad, from viewers in Maldives.

Chief Executive of Communications Authority Ilyas Ahmed said that it is difficult to remove videos from YouTube, and that discussions are under way in this regard with Google which owns YouTube.

“Earlier, what they would have done is block the website. However YouTube is a large site with many viewers, so it would not be practical to block YouTube. So we are discussing with Google on removing the trailer from YouTube,” he said.

Communications Authority commenced these efforts following a letter by Islamic Ministry requesting for the same.

Ilyas said that this is the first time the Maldives is trying to block something on the internet.

Muslim countries around the world, including Maldives, are protesting against this film and the US.

Google has rejected a request by the US to reconsider keeping the trailer visible on YouTube, and indicated that decisions on blocking the trailer will be based not on political pressure, but on laws of individual countries.

Google has, consequently, blocked the trailer from viewers in Egypt, Libya, India and Indonesia.