Facebook and
Twitter have finally become widely accessible to Iranian users for the first
time within the last four years. The social networks were blocked in the
country when there were widespread protests against former president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
Although the
unfreezing of the services hasn’t been officially announced, the
representatives of foreign press residing in Tehran have tweeted that they
could finally access the service freely. In the meantime, the director for
international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
has also received numerous reports from people using several different Iranian
ISPs. The reports confirmed that the block appeared to have been lifted. Aside
from Facebook and Twitter, other websites which had been blocked were also
suddenly unblocked.
Iranian government banned Facebook and Twitter more than four years ago, when Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election victory provoked massive protests and such social media as the US giants were used to organize demonstrations.
Fortunately, new president, the moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani, has announced he will adopt a much different approach to social media from that of its hardline predecessor.
Iranian government banned Facebook and Twitter more than four years ago, when Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election victory provoked massive protests and such social media as the US giants were used to organize demonstrations.
Fortunately, new president, the moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani, has announced he will adopt a much different approach to social media from that of its hardline predecessor.
