Iran Blocks Facebook Prior to Upcoming Presidential Election
There are reports today that Iran has blocked Facebook, apparently to "prevent supporters of the leading opposition candidate from using the site for his campaign". Opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi has more than 5200 supporters on the popular social networking site and is said to be gaining momentum against current Islamic Republic of Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
According to Radio Free Europe, Facebook is the 10th most popular site in Iran and political activists are becoming increasingly active on the site. This is not the first time Iran has blocked Facebook. In 2006 the site was banned for being "illegal" but was unblocked in February of this year. Many people do not believe that Facebook access will ever be permanent there.
The presidential elections in Iran are being held on June 12, 2009 and will be the country's 10th such election. There are 3 leading candidates right now. Incumbant Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is running against Iran Reform Movement candidate and former Prime Minister Mousavi. Former Speaker of the Majlis (Parliament) Mehdi Karroubi, another Reformist candidate, also intends to run.
As All Facebook's Nick O'Neill puts it, "unfortunately for the Iranians, they have a regime in place that doesn't support freedom of speech and would prefer to run a dictatorship". Those of us who enjoy such freedoms should do our part to make sure that censorship like this never happens to us. We wish our brothers and sisters in Iran the best of luck.
Facebook Response:
When we first learned of this story we immediately contacted Facebook to see what they had to say. They were gracious to respond swiftly with this comment from a Facebook spokesperson:
"We are disappointed to learn of reports that users in Iran may not have access to
Facebook, especially at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source
of information about election candidates and their positions. We are investigating
these reports.
We believe that people around the world should be able to use Facebook to
communicate and share information with their friends, family and coworkers. It is
always a shame when a countries' cultural and political concerns lead to limits
being placed on the opportunity for sharing and expression that the Internet
provides."
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Good luck people of Iran! The rest of the world is watching and hoping you can win freedom online and off!
The people of Iran are such wonderful, kind and smart people. It's a shame that many of them will not realize their full potential because they are not able to speak freely.
Im from iran, thx guys for your lovely and hopefull comments,
as is written in this article face book is blocked in iran, I realized it today and is exactly right that we dont like our current president to be president again cuz he annoyed us alot, and we really like mousavi, and cuz we all are members of his group in facebook ahmadi nejad has blocked facebook
shame on you ahmadi nejad, you are so jelous. we dont give in, we will continue our way and all of us will vote to musavi to bring u down down down! and we will use proxys to enter facebook and nothing can stop us from being free.
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talking about blocking, why you do not talk about blocking coming from these companies? Linkedin blocks users in Sudan and facebook is thinking in doing the same!
http://arabcrunch.com/2009/04/while-white-listing-syria-linkedin-keeps-sudan-blocked.html
I'll have an updated story in this regard on AC soon.
The facebook website was filtered from Saturday by the governments. All the people in Iran hate Islamic republic and its government. We will get our freedom back soon. Shame on Ahmadi nejad
hey,
I'm an Iranian too. I get disappointed when I see our own government does not respect our right of freedom while the other countries do.
thanks for your support.
let's hope we can attain our freedom, once again.
I'm a iranian girl,I'm so sorry for my government and our president ahmadi nezhad,we don't have any freedom in Iran,as you see facebook got blocked and it is really foolish,I hate this Ahmadinezhad's government.
I hate Ahmadi nezhad,because he a fool,he thinks that when he blocks facebook,then he can be president again,he tricks on people and he doesn't know that iranian people are very smart,hahaha..you will be NOT the next president.shame on you...
Facebook access restored on Tuesday (May 26th).
BBC News article here.
Considering they arrest and whip girls for wearing makeup or having the gall to show their faces in public, I would say that facebook isn't exactly a top line issue. Sort of like polishing the hubcaps on your car with no engine.
hey guys
after 27 december our yahoomail, gmail and some other mails, was blocked.
help us .
regards