Pakistan Bans Facebook
Turns out South Park + Muhammad + Facebook + Pakistan is not a good combination. On May 19, Pakistan issued a court order banning the social-networking site nationwide, in response to a campaign by some Facebook members called "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day!" The campaign, in the name of free speech, was initially meant to defend a highly criticized South Park episode that featured Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, in a bear suit. The Facebook page prompted users to submit drawings of the Prophet — some of which were rather explicit and racist — and was seen as "deliberately and recklessly" blasphemous by the Lahore-based court. (Creating images of the Prophet is prohibited in Islam.) The ban was lifted 12 days later, when Facebook assured Pakistan that none of the objectionable material would be available to users in the country.