Cartoon contest leads Pakistan to shutter Facebook

A Seattle cartoonist's satirical suggestion that Thursday be dubbed "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" has led to anything but humor in some quarters, particularly Pakistan, which on Wednesday evening shut down Facebook.

An Islamic lawyers association in Lahore, Pakistan, argued that the contest essentially equaled blasphemy, and on Wednesday won a court injunction against the social-networking site. A Facebook page promoting the cartoonist's idea (but not set up by her) had drawn upward of 71,000 members as of 11 p.m. PDT Wednesday night.

Facebook will reportedly be shut down in Pakistan for the remainder of the month.

For more on this story, read Cartoon contest leads Pakistan to shutter Facebook on CNET News.