IRAN: Authorities block Facebook amid heated election campaign
There's no official word, but most assume it's to try to minimize the effect the site might have on the outcome of the critical June 12 presidential elections.
Iranian Internet-service providers had long banned Facebook, making it inaccessible to dial-up and broadband users. Government officials were fearful it could be used by intelligence officials abroad to recruit operatives or by activists to organize anti-government protests.
But in January, after watching the way activists were using Facebook to promote opposition to the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, Iranian authorities apparently warmed up to the quirky website and quietly lifted the ban.
Thousands of Iranians signed up to use Facebook, many of them "friending" other Iranians in the Diaspora.
Tech-savvy Iranians quickly began using the website to organize events in support of candidates in the upcoming presidential elections.
According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, the site was proving especially successful in pushing the candidacy of former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, the most liberal of the candidates challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The daily newspaper Ettemad Melli said Sunday the judiciary order to ban the website was quickly rescinded, but Iranians are still reporting troubles accessing the site without the help of so-called "filter breakers," which they frequently download.
Twitter, another popular and rapidly growing social-networking tool, also has been filtered out, the Iranian daily Abrar reported Sunday.
It was the second time in recent days that a Middle Eastern country has responded to security worries concerning the popular site.
Earlier, Babylon & Beyond reported on Israeli officials warning that Facebook could be used to lure unsuspecting Israelis into foul play.
Egypt also has cracked down on activists using Facebook to organize against the government.
-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut
Photo: Detail from a Facebook page promoting Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Credit: Borzou Daragahi / Los Angeles Times
in the name of god....hi..my eng is so bad.....so i have many mistake at writing...im iranean....and never see contry such iran in all over the world.....im woman.....the politics from another contrys like france..eng...and amrika spend each day by say wrong thing about my country.....but nowedays all peop know wts true....im sure they choose best way..i dont know y some country like amrika wanna show irans peop r poor.....and dont have Democracy....if they r
Compassionate.......plz think about there problam....and try to solve it.....but they wanna show there worlds god......mr ahmadi nejad is the best president.....and i glory he is iranian
Posted by: sara | June 19, 2009 at 07:26 AM
What, all the complaining but no cheering, nag nag nag!
Facebook unblocked by Iran;
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/05/iran-facebook-unblocked-after-hoopla-over-banning.html
Posted by: Javad | May 27, 2009 at 07:58 PM
irans goverment attempts to filter all the media in order to prevent any other candidate to show his self off to people except ahmadi nejad
this is cruel
Posted by: sina | May 25, 2009 at 08:03 AM
How can they claim that they respect human rights? there is not a free flow of information in Iran.
Shame on Ahmadinejad and his government
Posted by: Sina | May 24, 2009 at 02:38 PM
i used to be a facebook user,now that i see you are putting a video like supportting Occupied plastine(isreal)i m encouraging my contry for blocking even your site.Ha ha
Posted by: mostafa | May 24, 2009 at 11:40 AM
Iranians are trying to get information, organize, and communicate with each other. Their so-called democratic leaders are exposing the sham of the elections by blocking these activities. It's bad enough that most of the candidates were officially "disqualified." The problem with Iran is that the people are a lot more intelligent than their government wants them to be.
Posted by: djr | May 24, 2009 at 11:20 AM