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===United Kingdom===
===United Kingdom===
In the [[United Kingdom]] on April 28, 2011, the day before the [[Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton]], a number of politically motivated Facebook groups and pages were removed or suspended from the website as part of a nationwide crackdown on political activity. The groups and pages were mostly concerned with opposition to government spending cuts, and many were used to organize demonstrations in a continuation of the [[2010 UK student protests]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/29/facebook-activist-pages-purged | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Shiv | last=Malik | title=Activists claim purge of Facebook pages | date=April 29, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/facebook-suspends-uk-activist-groups |title=Facebook 'suspends UK activist groups' - Channel 4 News |publisher=Channel4.com |date=2011-04-29 |accessdate=2011-10-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/facebook-deactivates-protest-pages-in-britain/?partner=rss&emc=rss | work=The New York Times | first=Jennifer | last=Preston | title=Facebook Deactivates Protest Pages in Britain | date=April 29, 2011}}</ref> The censorship of the pages coincided with a series of pre-emptive arrests of known activists.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/29/royal-wedding-police-criticised-protesters | location=London | work=The Guardian | first1=Robert | last1=Booth | first2=Sandra | last2=Laville | first3=Shiv | last3=Malik | title=Royal wedding: police criticised for pre-emptive strikes against protesters | date=April 29, 2011}}</ref> Amongst the arrestees were a street theater group planning an [[effigy]] beheading performance in opposition to the monarchy, whose members included a 66-year-old professor of [[anthropology]],<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13234682 | work=BBC News | title=Royal wedding: Three held over effigy beheading claims | date=April 29, 2011}}</ref> and five people dressed as zombies who were drinking [[tea]] in [[Starbucks]] at the time of the arrest.<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/>
In the [[United Kingdom]] on April 28, 2011, the day before the [[Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton]], a number of politically motivated Facebook groups and pages were removed or suspended from the website as part of a nationwide crackdown on political activity. The groups and pages were mostly concerned with opposition to government spending cuts, and many were used to organize demonstrations in a continuation of the [[2010 UK student protests]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/29/facebook-activist-pages-purged | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Shiv | last=Malik | title=Activists claim purge of Facebook pages | date=April 29, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/facebook-suspends-uk-activist-groups |title=Facebook 'suspends UK activist groups' - Channel 4 News |publisher=Channel4.com |date=2011-04-29 |accessdate=2011-10-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/facebook-deactivates-protest-pages-in-britain/?partner=rss&emc=rss | work=The New York Times | first=Jennifer | last=Preston | title=Facebook Deactivates Protest Pages in Britain | date=April 29, 2011}}</ref> The censorship of the pages coincided with a series of pre-emptive arrests of known activists.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/29/royal-wedding-police-criticised-protesters | location=London | work=The Guardian | first1=Robert | last1=Booth | first2=Sandra | last2=Laville | first3=Shiv | last3=Malik | title=Royal wedding: police criticised for pre-emptive strikes against protesters | date=April 29, 2011}}</ref> Amongst the arrestees were a street theater group planning an [[effigy]] beheading performance in opposition to the monarchy, whose members included a 66-year-old professor of [[anthropology]],<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13234682 | work=BBC News | title=Royal wedding: Three held over effigy beheading claims | date=April 29, 2011}}</ref> and five people dressed as zombies who were drinking [[tea]] in [[Starbucks]] at the time of the arrest.<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/>

===Vietnam===
{{main|Internet censorship in Vietnam}}
In Vietnam, an unauthenticated document supposedly issued by the [[Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam|Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security]] dating August 27, 2009 instructing ISPs to block Facebook sparked shutdown fears. Access to Facebook became intermittent in mid-November and major ISPs were swamped by complaints. Some technicians confirmed being ordered by the government to block access to Facebook while government officials denied it.<ref name="vietnam"/>


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 22:12, 10 January 2013

Facebook logo
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Main article: Internet censorship

Censorship of Facebook has occurred because of the open nature of Facebook; several countries have interfered with or banned access to it, including Syria,[1] China,[2] Iran,[3] Vietnam[4] and the United Kingdom.[5]

Censorship by country

Australia

Facebook has 10 million Australian users - almost half the population - and requires people to state at sign-up that they are at least 13 years of age. But, because there is currently no way to formally enforce the age limit, in July 2011 Australia began considering giving parents access to their children's pages, requiring proof of age at sign-up, and increasing the age limit to 18.[6]

China

Main article: Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China

In Mainland China, Facebook was blocked following the July 2009 Ürümqi riots[2] because Xinjiang independence activists were using Facebook as part of their communications network.[7] Some Chinese users also believed that Facebook would not succeed in China after Google China's problems.[8] The popular Renren social network (formerly Xiaonei) has many features similar to Facebook, and complies with PRC Government regulations regarding content filtering.

Egypt

Main article: Internet censorship in Egypt

Facebook was blocked for a few days in Egypt during the 2011 Egyptian protests.[9]

Iran

Main article: Internet censorship in Iran

After the 2009 election in Iran, the website was banned because of fears that opposition movements were being organized on the website.[3]

Mauritius

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) of Mauritius, ordered Internet Service Providers(ISPs) of the country to ban Facebook on immediate effect, on the 8th November 2007 because of a fake profile page of the Prime Minister. Access to Facebook was restored on the next day. [10][11][12][13][14]

Morocco

Main article: Internet censorship in Morocco

On February 5, 2008, Fouad Mourtada, a citizen of Morocco, was arrested for the alleged creation of a faked Facebook profile of Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco.[15][16]

Syria

Main article: Internet censorship in Syria

The Syrian government explained their ban by claiming the website promoted attacks on authorities.[1][17] The government also feared Israeli infiltration of Syrian social networks on Facebook.[1] Facebook was also used by Syrian citizens to criticize the government of Syria, and public criticism of the Syrian government is punishable by imprisonment.[1] But most of the people reach to Facebook by internetebak.com which is a gate to banned websites. Syria claims that they do not want to have a prominent website created by a Jew to have presence in the country.

Tajikistan

In November 2012, Tajikistan blocked access to Facebook in response to comments posted online, spreading “mud and slander” about President Imomali Rakhmon and various other officials.[18]

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom on April 28, 2011, the day before the Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, a number of politically motivated Facebook groups and pages were removed or suspended from the website as part of a nationwide crackdown on political activity. The groups and pages were mostly concerned with opposition to government spending cuts, and many were used to organize demonstrations in a continuation of the 2010 UK student protests.[19][20][21] The censorship of the pages coincided with a series of pre-emptive arrests of known activists.[22] Amongst the arrestees were a street theater group planning an effigy beheading performance in opposition to the monarchy, whose members included a 66-year-old professor of anthropology,[23] and five people dressed as zombies who were drinking tea in Starbucks at the time of the arrest.[22]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Yacoub Oweis, Khaled (November 23, 2007). "Syria blocks Facebook in Internet crackdown". Reuters. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  2. ^ a b "China's Facebook Status: Blocked". ABC News. July 8, 2009. Retrieved July 13, 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Facebook Faces Censorship in Iran". American Islamic Congress. August 29, 2007. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
  4. ^ Vivian Marsh (November 20, 2009). "Vietnam government denies blocking networking site". BBC News. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
  5. ^ Shiv Malik (April 29, 2011). "Activists claim purge of Facebook pages". London: The Guardian. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
  6. ^ "Australia mulls Facebook 18+", Agence France-Presse (AFP), 21 July 2011
  7. ^ "80 pct of netizens agree China should punish Facebook". The People's Daily Online. July 10, 2009. Retrieved July 13, 2009.
  8. ^ "Facebook上演戏剧 纸老虎"非死不可"". itxinwen.com. May 14, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  9. ^ "Facebook reported inaccessible in Egypt". Google/Agence France-Presse. 26 Jan 2011.
  10. ^ Published November 13, 2007. "Mauritius blocks facebook". Mauritiustoday.com. Retrieved 2011-10-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Facebook: A Mauritian tragedy?". Noulakaz. 2007-11-08. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  12. ^ "Facebook blocked by ISPs in Mauritius". priscimon.com. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  13. ^ "Facebook outage in Mauritius – it's been censored!!! | Sometimes life is good…". Pascalg.wordpress.com. 2007-11-08. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  14. ^ "Maurice censure le site communautaire Facebook". L'express. Retrieved 9 Nov 2007. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  15. ^ "Police arrest man for 'villainous' theft of prince's ID on Facebook". CNN. February 7, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  16. ^ "Moroccan held for alleged royal ID theft". Yahoo. February 7, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  17. ^ "Syrian gov't blocks use of Facebook". The Jerusalem Post. November 24, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2008.
  18. ^ Tajikistan blocks Facebook access to silence critics, International: Reuters, 2012
  19. ^ Malik, Shiv (April 29, 2011). "Activists claim purge of Facebook pages". The Guardian. London.
  20. ^ "Facebook 'suspends UK activist groups' - Channel 4 News". Channel4.com. 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  21. ^ Preston, Jennifer (April 29, 2011). "Facebook Deactivates Protest Pages in Britain". The New York Times.
  22. ^ a b Booth, Robert; Laville, Sandra; Malik, Shiv (April 29, 2011). "Royal wedding: police criticised for pre-emptive strikes against protesters". The Guardian. London.
  23. ^ "Royal wedding: Three held over effigy beheading claims". BBC News. April 29, 2011.


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