Criticism Of Papua New Guinea's Idea To Block Facebook For A Month

Over the last two years, at least 30 countries experienced Internet shutdowns, with most of the disruptions instrumented by governments, data compiled by the international non-profit Access Now shows. For example, Facebook is officially banned in countries like North Korea, Iran and China. According to recent media reports, the Pacific's largest and most populous island state of Papua New Guinea could be the next one to block the social media site.

The Papua New Guinean government announced that it might consider banning Facebook for a month in an attempt to clean the platform of fake profiles and to crack down on the spread of fake news and pornography. The shutdown would also allow authorities to asses Facebook’s effect on the island nation and to evaluate whether its 8 million people would be better served with their own national social media site instead of Facebook. When exactly this month-long ban could be issued is currently unclear.

WIRED journalists Louise Matsakis takes a critical look at the proposed ban, discussing its potential repercussions. Most importantly, though, she criticizes both the Western media and the country’s government for not considering “how Papua New Guinea's own citizens (…) feel about the proposed ban”. Looking at the big picture, the article offers an interesting and thought-provoking commentary on the need to consider local circumstances when discussing ways to handle social media challenges.

“When the news reached Western outlets Tuesday, some people applauded. It appeared that a developing nation was fighting back against a platform historically hellbent on bringing its services to every corner of the globe. But the reality of how people in Papua New Guinea use Facebook is more complicated than it first appears, and the reaction to what's happening in the country says more about how the US struggles with the tech giant than it does about PNG,” writes Matsakis.