Censorship Of Facebook
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
is a
social networking service A social networking service (SNS), or social networking site, is a type of online social media platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interest ...
that has been gradually replacing traditional media channels since 2010. Facebook has limited moderation of the content posted to its site. Because the site indiscriminately displays material publicly posted by users, Facebook can, in effect, threaten oppressive governments. Facebook can simultaneously propagate fake news, hate speech, and misinformation, thereby undermining the credibility of online platforms and social media. Many countries have banned or temporarily limited access to Facebook. Use of the website has also been restricted in various ways in other countries. As of 2024, the only countries to continually ban access to the social networking site are:
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
,
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
,
Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
,
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...
and
Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
. However, since most North Korean residents have no access to the Internet, China, Russia, and Iran are the only countries where access to Facebook is actively restricted in a wholesale manner, although it is possible to access the site through onion services.


Algorithmic censorship

Online censorship by Facebook of algorithmic methods raises concerns including the surveillance of all instant communications and the use of machine learning systems with the potential for errors and biases. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO and majority shareholder, published a memo on censorship. "What should be the limits to what people can express?" he asked. "What content should be distributed and what should be blocked? Who should decide these policies and make enforcement decisions?"


Censorship by country


Austria

Like France and Germany, Austria has laws prohibiting
Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...
. This caused 78 Facebook posts to be banned from the country in 2013.


Bangladesh

Bangladesh (like Iran, China and North Korea) had banned Facebook before. The ban operated for about a month, precisely from November to December 2015. The
Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...
-led
government of Bangladesh The government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh () is the central government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Constitution of Bangladesh comprising the executive (the president, prime minister and cabinet), the ...
announced a countrywide ban on Facebook and other social-network websites. Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina (''née'' Wazed; born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. Premiership of Sheikh Hasina, Her ...
(in office from 2009) proposed the establishment of an Internet monitoring committee with the help of Bangladesh's intelligence services. Right-wing political parties and groups in Bangladesh protested against bloggers and others they had considered "blasphemous" at the time of the proposal. Extremists in the country had murdered eight secularists, including atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was fatally stabbed in February 2013. National riots over the country's war-crimes trials resulted in the deaths of 56 people between 19 January 2013 and 2 March 2013. On 18 November 2015, the same Awami League government banned Facebook again on the eve of the final judgement of
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh. The origin of the party can be traced back to the original faction founded by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi in 1941. The predecessor of Jamaat which is known as Ja ...
leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid and
Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...
leader Salauddin Kader Chowdhury. Both the politicians and previous minister have been issued a death sentence by the War Criminals Tribunal and the review board of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has finally given their judgement in favour of the previously given one. The Bangladesh government lifted the ban on 20 December 2015.


China

In
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, Facebook was blocked following the
July 2009 Ürümqi riots A series of violent riots over several days broke out on 5 July 2009 in Ürümqi, the capital city of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in northwestern China. The first day's rioting, which involved at least 1,000 Uyghurs, began as a p ...
because protestors with the East Turkestan independence movement were using Facebook as part of their communications network to organize attacks across the city; Facebook refused to release the protestor identities and information to the Chinese government. Some Chinese users also believed that Facebook would not succeed in China after Google China's problems in 2013. Renren (formerly ''Xiaonei'') has many features similar to Facebook, and complies with PRC Government regulations regarding content filtering. As of 20 August 2013, there have been reports of Facebook being partially unblocked in China. However, according to the "Blocked in China" website, Facebook is still blocked as of 7 December 2019. Facebook is not blocked in
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
and
Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...
, which are special administrative regions operating under different systems. Facebook is currently working on a censorship project for China, where a third party would be allowed to regulate Facebook and control popular stories that come around. This would be a huge attempt by Facebook to get back into China. On 6 July 2020, Facebook announced that the company would stop reviewing requests for Hong Kong users' data while evaluating the newly imposed Hong Kong national security law by the Chinese government.


Egypt

Facebook was blocked for a few days in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.


France

Like Austria and Germany, France has laws prohibiting
Holocaust denial Historical negationism, Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazi Party, Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: ...
. Because of this, 80 Facebook posts were blocked in 2013.


Germany

In July 2011, authorities in Germany began to discuss the prohibition of events organized on Facebook. This was motivated by numerous cases of overcrowding by people who were not originally invited. In one instance, 1,600 "guests" attended the 16th birthday party for a girl in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
who accidentally posted the invitation for the event as public. After reports of overcrowding, more than a hundred police were deployed for crowd control. A police officer was injured and eleven participants were arrested for assault, property damage, and resistance to authorities. In another unexpectedly overcrowded event, 41 young people were arrested and at least 16 injured. In 2016, Facebook revealed Germany had blocked 84 posts from its citizens. These posts contained themes of Holocaust denial, which is illegal there. In 2015, during the
European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...
with large numbers of immigrants entering the country illegally, a broad discussion about the problems of mass immigration and government politics took place in social media. Early in 2016, a Bertelsmann company called " Arvato" was mandated to erase comments and contents from Facebook. In the summer of 2016, police in fourteen German states began coordinated raids on the residences of individuals who praised the Nazi regime or referred to refugees as "scum" in a private Facebook group. A law known as NetzDG went into effect starting in 2018 which mandates all websites in Germany, including Facebook, censor such illegal content. A spokesperson for Facebook announced the company's opposition to the law on the grounds that it would lead to overblocking.


Greece

In February 2021 Facebook deleted posts and events, imposed 30-day bans on prominent journalists and members of the general public, for posting in solidarity with the 63-year-old convict Dimitris Koufodinas who is on hunger strike since the 8th of January 2021. Koufodinas is serving a life sentence, after having been convicted as a member of the far-left '' Revolutionary Organization 17 November'' (17N), committing 11 murders in that time. He has been demanding to be returned to Korydallos prison for months with a long hunger strike against new repressive laws.


India

The first time Facebook shared how often it allows governments to censor their citizens' content, they stated that India had censored 4,765 posts in their country in the last six months of 2013. Facebook removed these posts in India under the government's claim of unlawful content. India imposed a three-day ban on Facebook and other social media sites during the riots in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh after the conviction of Baba Ram Rahim Singh in 2017. Censorship on Facebook increased by 19% in 6 months in 2014; India led the list of content removal in 2014.


Indonesia

Indonesian citizens are familiar with censorship of Facebook content. In 2019, the government (through the ministry of information Rusdiantara) threatened to ban the social network. Soon after the agreement made, the first public known about censorship is on the demonstration that campaigned as riots by government, maybe this is the first-ever plot twist used on demonstration using social media. In 2020, Facebook censored posts about "
FPI FPI may refer to: Government and politics * Federal Prison Industries, a US government corporation which employs Penal labor in the United States, prison labor * Foreign Policy Initiative, an American think tank * Foreign Policy Institute, a Turk ...
". The escalation is in December 2020 when there are six FPI-affiliated civilians killed on purported attach by Police. As soon Police made a press release about resistance it doubted by the public as self-defence procedure. Independent analyst showed the public doubt on Police fact statement in social media post interactions. NGO's urged government to form independent investigations to observe the issue of human-right offenses and extra judicial killing.


Iran

After the 2009 Iranian presidential election, Facebook was banned because of fears that opposition movements were being organized on the website. However, after four years of the blocking of Facebook website, as of September 2013, the blocking of both Twitter and Facebook was thought to have been lifted without notice. Iranians lost unrestricted access to Facebook and Twitter the next day, leaving many people wondering whether the opening was deliberate or the result of some technical glitch.


Israel

In September 2016, the
Cabinet of Israel The Cabinet of Israel (; ) is the cabinet which exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the government must be approved by a vote of con ...
has said to have agreed with Facebook to remove content that is deemed as incitement to violence. This announcement came after top Facebook officials met with the Israeli government to determine which Facebook accounts should be deleted on the grounds that they constituted incitement to violence. Critics of Israel's policies are not happy with this move as they claim it is being used as a way to silence outspoken
Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
activists and journalists. The activists argue that when they post material meant to critique
the occupation ''The Occupation'' is a single-player adventure video game developed by White Paper Games and released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows on 5 March 2019. The game takes place in a single government building, in real-time over f ...
, Israel sees it as encouraging violence. Some believe that the Israeli government and Facebook have an "informal arrangement" for monitoring Facebook content. Jordana Cutler, who previously was the
Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...
at the Israel Embassy in Washington DC and a former adviser to Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...
is Facebook's head of policy in Israel. She claimed that Facebook is merely following suggestions. "We receive requests from the government but are not committed to them," Cutler said.


Nauru

In 2015,
Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...
permanently blocked sites set up for "abusive content" such as child pornography and would temporarily block some sites like Facebook. Despite controversy surrounding the ban, President
Baron Waqa Baron Divavesi Waqa (; born 31 December 1959) is a Nauruan politician who currently serves as the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum. He was the President of Nauru from 11 Ju ...
defended it. In 2018, the ban on Facebook in Nauru was lifted.


North Korea

In April 2016, North Korea started blocking Facebook, "a move underscoring its concern with the spread of online information," according to the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
. Anyone who tries to access it without special permission from the North Korean government will be subject to punishment.


Mauritius

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) of
Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
, ordered
internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...
s of the country to ban
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
effective immediately, on 8 November 2007 because of a fake profile page of the Prime Minister. Access to Facebook was restored the next day.


Morocco

On 5 February 2008, Fouad Mourtada, a citizen of Morocco, was arrested for 43 days due to the alleged creation of a faked Facebook profile of Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco.


Myanmar

On 4 February 2021, access to Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram were restricted on multiple internet providers in
Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. Facebook's usual attempts of not following and challenging the local laws and government led to the current censorship block. The censorship might remain forever and be replaced by similar social media which will abide by the local laws.


Pakistan

On 19 May 2010, the Lahore High Court ordered Facebook to be blocked. Facebook was blocked until 31 May 2010 after a competition page encouraged users to post drawings of Muhammad. The controversial page named "Draw Mohammad Day" had been created by a Facebook user in response to American cartoonist Molly Noris's protest to the decision of US television channel, Comedy Central to cancel an episode of the popular show ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
'' over its depiction of Muhammad. Noris had however disavowed having declared 20 May "Draw Muhammad Day" and had condemned the effort and issued an apology. The ban, implemented by the
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) () is the telecommunication regulator of Pakistan, responsible for the establishment, operation and maintenance of telecommunication systems and the provision of telecommunication services in Pakis ...
, also resulted in a ban on YouTube and restricted access to other websites, including Wikipedia. On 25 November 2017, the NetBlocks internet shutdown observatory and Digital Rights Foundation collected evidence of nationwide blocking of Facebook alongside other social media services, imposed by the government in response to the violent Tehreek-e-Labaik protests. The technical investigation found that all major Pakistani fixed-line and mobile service providers were affected by the restrictions, which were lifted by the PTA the next day when protests abated following the resignation of Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid. Other websites including Twitter, YouTube and Dailymotion were also reportedly blocked by order of the PTA.


Papua New Guinea

Between May and June 2018, Facebook was banned for a month due to users posting
misinformation Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation and disinformation are not interchangeable terms: misinformation can exist with or without specific malicious intent, whereas disinformation is distinct in that the information ...
and
pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...
.


Russia

In 2014, Russia demanded that all links on Facebook be blocked that supported Russian opposition Alexei A. Navalny. Facebook users were blocked from any protest supporting Alexei. This included about ten million Facebook users. The
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
culminated in Russian-state media being banned from monetizing content on the Facebook platform. Russia therefore decided to impose access restriction on Facebook and
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. On 27 February 2022, Russia began restricting access to Facebook during the invasion of Ukraine by limiting access to the platform's
content delivery network A content delivery network (CDN) or content distribution network is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers. The goal is to provide high availability and performance ("speed") by distributing the service spat ...
. On 4 March 2022, Internet rights monitor NetBlocks reported that the restriction of Facebook had become "near-total." Regulatory agency Roskomnadzor announced that the restrictions had been imposed to curtail information on
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
and Twitter which did not align with the
government of Russia The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...
's positions.


Solomon Islands

In November 2020, Solomon Islands' Cabinet planned to block access to Facebook in the country in response to a lack of national legislation on internet usage and cybercrime. The motion to block it was started by the prime minister Manasseh Sogavare and communication and civil aviation minister Peter Agovaka. In January 2021, the proposed ban did not go ahead.


Sri Lanka

In March 2018, Facebook was blocked for 3 days in
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
due to racial hate speeches being rumored around the country via the social media network, causing many riots in the country by extremist groups. However this decision was not permanent. On 21 April 2019, Facebook was blocked along with other social media sites until 30 April 2019 in
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
to prevent false information about Easter Sunday bombings spreading around the country via social media. On 5 May 2019, the
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
n government reimposed a ban on social media platforms in an effort to stop the spread of rumours after violence erupted between groups of civilians in Negombo, north of the capital and site of one of the Easter Sunday bombings. The ban was lifted on 6 May 2019. On 13 May 2019, the
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
n government temporarily banned social media including Facebook. This measure has been taken owing to the false propaganda carried out on social media and the unrest which had occurred in several areas. The ban was lifted on 17 May 2019.


Sudan

In December 2018, the
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
ese government blocked Facebook, along with other
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
sites, which were being used by anti-government protesters to organize protests against President Omar al-Bashir. The restrictions were lifted 68 days later following the introduction of emergency measures outlawing public demonstrations.


Syria

In November 2007, the Syrian government blocked access to Facebook in Syria. The government claimed that the website promoted attacks on authorities. The government also feared Israeli infiltration of Syrian social networks on Facebook. Facebook was also used by Syrian citizens to criticize the
government of Syria The government of Syria takes place in a presidential system and is currently in a transitionary period under and led by a transitional government. The seat of the government is located in Damascus, Syria. On 8 December 2024, after the succe ...
, as public criticism of the Syrian government used to be punishable by imprisonment. In February 2011, Facebook was unblocked from all ISPs and the website remains accessible.


Tajikistan

In November 2012,
Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...
temporarily blocked access to Facebook in response to comments posted online, spreading "mud and slander" about President Emomalii Rahmon and various other officials.


Thailand

In 2017, Thailand asked Facebook to remove 309 posted items that were said to be illegal by standards of Thailand. However, Facebook only deleted 178 of the items, leaving 131 still on Facebook. Thai authorities stated if they found any illegal content in the remaining 131 posts they would ban all 14.8 million users from Facebook, instead of taking legal action. All posts ended up being removed from Facebook, preventing the shutdown of Facebook in Thailand. On 24 August 2020, after being pressured by Thai government, Facebook blocked access in Thailand to "Royalist Marketplace", a private Monarchy discussion group created by Pavin Chachavalpongpun that has over one million members. In response, Pavin created a new group immediately and gained more than 500,000 members in one day. A Facebook spokesperson stated, "Requests like this are severe, contravene international human rights law, and have a chilling effect on people's ability to express themselves... We work to protect and defend the rights of all internet users and are preparing to legally challenge this request."


Tunisia

Facebook was a major part of the political uprisings of the 'Arab Spring' in 2011.


Turkey

After photos of Mehmet Selim Kiraz being held at gun point by two terrorists began circulation on social media on 6 April 2015, the Turkish government banned Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and 166 other websites in the country for hours. The government does not tolerate "anti-government propaganda," and their laws are becoming increasingly more strict. In the 2015 Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders, Turkey ranked 149 of 180 countries. Facebook was blocked on 27 February 2020 at 23:30, along with several other social media sites. It happened the day that the military crisis in Idlib escalated.


Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan banned Facebook in 2018.


Uganda

Since 2021 elections, Facebook has been blocked in the country. The Uganda government blocked Facebook after the social media giant deleted hundreds of accounts of National Resistance Movement supporters it suspected to be fake during the general election last year. Initially, the government blocked social media and then the internet entirely prior to the general elections. Later on, internet was reinstated in the nation and some social media apps shortly after. However, Facebook remained blocked in the country. "We have released elements of social media — Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp — because we think to a less extent, those are not as lethal as Facebook," Opondo said. "So, we shall examine going forward, their posture on these other social media platforms that have been released. And that will inform how soon Facebook is restored." Until today, it is unclear if the government will ever reinstate Facebook since the last addresses indicated that Facebook had not complied to the government requests.


United Kingdom

In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
on 28 April 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 United Kingdom student protests. The censorship of the pages coincided with a series of pre-emptive arrests of known activists. Amongst the arrestees were a communist and socialist, and a few members of a street theater group planning an
effigy An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...
beheading performance in opposition to the monarchy. A Facebook spokesperson said the pages were disabled as part of a routine sweep because they were created with fake personal profiles, a violation of the company's term of service. In this case a number of the Facebook personal profile pages represented causes, rather than real people. Facebook "offered to help convert the profiles to pages that are designed to represent companies, groups or causes." The spokesperson went on to say that "the Met Police did not ask Facebook to take down this content." In March 2018, far-right Britain First was removed by Facebook. The pages of the leaders of the party were also taken down following their arrest and incarceration.


Vietnam

Facebook was blocked in Vietnam for two weeks in May 2016 due to
protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...
of dissidents. Vietnam Facebook users total about 52million and is a vital tool for their day to day use. However, the government is not accountable to the people which causes abuse of censorship in Vietnam. In 2018, the government created a huge military unit to block posts containing "wrong views" online. To appease the government, Facebook removed 160 "toxic" accounts for speech against the Communist Party in 2017.


Bans or former bans by country


See also

* Censorship by country * Censorship of Google *
Censorship of Twitter Censorship of Twitter/X refers to Internet censorship by governments that block access to Twitter (officially known as X since July 2023). Twitter censorship also includes governmental notice and take down requests to Twitter, which it enforce ...
*
Censorship of Wikipedia Wikipedia has been Censorship, censored by governments in a few countries including (but not limited to) China, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela. Some instances are examples of ...
*
Censorship of YouTube Censorship of video-sharing platform YouTube occurs to varying degrees in many countries. General YouTube blocking occurs for a variety of reasons including: * Preventing criticism of a ruler, government, government officials, religion, or r ...
* Criticism of Facebook *
Internet censorship by country This list of Internet censorship and surveillance by country provides information on the types and levels of Internet censorship and surveillance that is occurring in countries around the world. Classifications Detailed country by country info ...


References

{{Internet censorship circumvention technologies
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
Facebook Facebook criticisms and controversies Internet censorship in China Censorship