ISLAMABAD - Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter for much of Sunday because it refused to remove tweets considered offensive to Islam, said one of the country's top telecommunications officials.
The tweets were promoting a competition on Facebook to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, said Mohammad Yassen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.
The government restored access to Twitter before midnight Sunday, about eight hours after it initially blocked it. It was unclear whether the government reversed its decision because of action by Twitter or because of public criticism it received for its censorship.
Yassen said Facebook had agreed to address Pakistan's concerns about the competition and was not blocked.
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Officials from Twitter and Facebook were not immediately available for comment.
