2018 Mar 15
Sri Lanka has always been a fairly free and vocally expressive country, especially on online platforms such as Facebook that give keyboard warriors ample hiding space to assert their right to “freedom of speech”. However, in a recent turn of events, due to unrest and the 10-day nationwide state of emergency, our sunny little island has been cast into a dark and unforgiving void free of any and all forms of social media. That’s right, no Facebook, no Instagram, not even WhatsApp! Essentially, the government asked internet service providers to block messaging apps after they discovered hate-inducing Facebook posts encouraging violence towards the country’s minorities – a logical solution, in most senses of the situation.
Interestingly enough, Sri Lanka isn’t the first country to introduce a ban such as this – so let’s take a look at the various social media bans across the world.
North Korea
Definitely topping the list is North Korea, whose “internet” isn’t even connected to the rest of the world. The country operates on a tightly sealed intranet of sorts with all websites being under government control and only about 4% of the country’s entire population having internet access that crosses international borders. You can’t even get past a block like this with the now-familiar VPN apps because if you haven’t heard, up in friendly North Korea, punishment for breaking the law is quite severe.
China
From foreign films to Pinterest to Casinos, the list of banned things in China is extensive, but their ban on social media is a much talked about topic. China pulled the plug on Facebook way back in 2009, and though Zuckerberg has been pushing to re-enter the market ever since, the ever-growing social media platform has had no such luck. The latest platform to be blacked out is WhatsApp, as of late 2017.
Some trace the ban to riots that broke out in July of 2009 that has caused China to spend the last few years not just tightening its reign on media, information flow and most aspects of internet activity, but closing down churches and jailing human rights activists and lawyers as well.
Cuba
11 million Cubans have only one way of connecting to the World Wide Web and that is through the approximately 237 paid but monitored public Wi-Fi hot-spots installed by the government and located around the country. Whilst critics claim that the Cuban internet is poor by design, to stop the people from accessing outside information or culture, the government blames the lack of funds and the US Embargo for the absence of a better connected infrastructure.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia has a history of banning “opposition and human rights blogs” as well as voice over internet protocol (VoIP) calls with “unauthorized Skype call” users facing 15 year jail terms. But in 2016, after university entrance exam questions were posted online and the exams cancelled, Ethiopia’s government blocked access to social media platforms including Facebook, twitter, Instagram and Viber. Getachew Reda, a government spokesman, said “Social media have proven to be a distraction for students” and encourages temporary suspensions of platforms such as these.
Congo
In 2016, The Democratic Republic of Congo ordered telecom companies to temporarily block social media including Facebook, Twitter, Skype, YouTube and LinkedIn ahead of planned protests against the then-president, Joseph Kabila. Tension had been building up due to a delay in a presidential vote and the government, in an attempt to disperse angry mobs or large gatherings of people organized through social media platforms, called for a temporary shutdown of all such channels.
Algeria
Back in 2016, authorities in Algeria reportedly arrested dozens of people, including officials of national education offices, in an investigation into the leak of high school examination papers onto social media. The leak caused outrage and forced Algerian authorities to temporarily block Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to try and put an end to the cheating. Access to the internet through 3G mobile networks was also disrupted.
Egypt
In 2011, Egypt attempted to put an end to street protests by shutting down internet and mobile phone services. Not only was the World Wide Web not functional, mobile telephone networks were also disrupted with patchy phone signals and inoperative text messaging services.
Turkey
Following an attempted coup in 2016, the Turkish government reportedly blocked social media platforms all over the country. Though the ban was limited only to a couple of hours, Turkey Blocks, a Twitter account that regularly checks if sites are being blocked in the country, reported that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were all unresponsive, though Instagram and Vimeo remained available.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has always had high censorship and social media network banning, especially on apps such as WhatsApp, causing citizens to use apps such as Line and Imo. However, as of September 2017, the country lifted its ban on WhatsApp and Skype, although censorship and monitoring of online activity is still high.
So whilst we fret over the lack of likes on our selfies and the absence of meme tags to get us through the day, we can at least be thankful that we aren’t stuck in China or aren’t experiencing a permanent ban of social media for interesting, legitimate and sometimes ridiculous reasons.
