Papua New Guinea’s government has shut down social media platform Facebook, in what it describes as a “test” to mitigate hate speech, misinformation, pornography and “other detrimental content”.
The test, conducted under the country’s anti-terrorism laws, began on Monday morning and has extended into Tuesday.
Facebook users in the country have been unable to log-in to the platform and it is unclear how long the ban will go on for.
The government’s move was not flagged ahead of the “test” on Monday — a move opposition MPs and media leaders have described as “tyranny” and an “abuse of human rights”.
Facebook is by far the most popular social media platform in the country, with an estimated 1.3 million users, or about half of the country’s estimated 2.6 million internet users.
The platform is a critical tool for public discourse in the country, with many highly active forums used to discuss PNG politics and social issues.
Yet, the government has been highly critical of Facebook with the platform often blamed for helping spread misinformation, particularly in light of a recent spate of tribal killings in the country.
This just reeks of control.
Maybe, but it’s an onion of a problem.
We all know how much FB spreads disinfo and brain rot. The positive effect of disabling it feels as significant as the negative effect on freedom of speech.
The dichotomy is very much analogous to how I feel about tiktok bans.
Is it really a problem for freedom of speech, if it’s only a platform getting banned and not specific content?
If you are allowed to talk about anything still everywhere else on the web, I can’t see the freedom of speech card being valid in this case about FB.
FB is already controlling what you see, making freedom of speech better without them.