Internet providers in Russia’s Chechen Republic in the majority Muslim-populated North Caucasus have been instructed to block YouTube to prevent access to a controversial amateur movie mocking the Prophet Muhammad.
One Internet provider in Chechnya, Orange Company, has blocked the YouTube site already.
Three remaining providers, MTS, Megafon and Vympelkom have been officially ordered by the republic’s prosecutor general to block the popular video-sharing online resource to prevent people viewing the film “Innocence of Muslims.”
The film, which was privately made in the United States, sparked violent protests and attacks on U.S. embassies across the Islamic world.
In the neighboring Russian republic of Daghestan, the private Summa Telekom firm had earlier blocked YouTube.