Service on Google Inc.'s YouTube Web site was disrupted around the world for several hours Sunday after a botched effort by the Pakistani government to block access to a video clip critical of Islam.

The story began unfolding Friday when the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, the nation's telecom regulator, ordered Pakistan's Internet-service providers to immediately block access to a specific YouTube video, which it said was so incendiary it could trigger riots. A senior official at the authority said it also contacted YouTube, requesting that the site remove the video. The authority argued the clip was a violation of YouTube's terms of service, which ban hate speech. YouTube has since removed the clip but says it doesn't comment on reasons for removing specific videos.

According to the senior official at the authority, the clip in question was about a soon-to-be released film made by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whose outspoken comments against Islam have made him a target of protests in the Muslim world and elsewhere.

Mr. Wilders's own Web site says his film portrays the Quran as a fascist book that incites people to murder. Mr. Wilders has previously compared the Quran to Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf." On Fox News recently, he said, "Our culture is far better than a retarded Islamic culture." He didn't respond to requests for comment on the YouTube incident.

Even though fewer than 5% of Pakistan's households are connected to the Internet, the government feared the film could spark riots similar to the deadly violence that broke out in Muslim countries after a Danish newspaper published cartoons about the prophet Muhammad in 2006, according to a senior official at the authority. Violent protests have erupted repeatedly in Pakistan in recent months following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. There were also new protests about the cartoons in recent weeks after Danish authorities arrested several people who were allegedly plotting the assassination of the cartoonist behind the drawing.