After blocking the social network for about a week, Tajik authorities have gone back on the decision and opened up access to Facebook once again, AFP reports.
Last week, Facebook, along with three other websites, were blocked in Tajikistan, after authorities ordered ISPs to block access to them.
Facebook, along with several Russian news sites, namely zevzda.ru, centrasia.ru, tjk.news.com, and maxala.org, were blocked after several articles were published, criticizing the country’s president.
EFF reported that any users attempting to access the blocked sites were simply redirected to their ISP’s homepage.
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Today, according to AFP, a spokesperson for one of Tajikistan’s ISPs said, “Yes, we’ve allowed access to Facebook but we don’t know how long it will last. If we again receive a signal to shut it down we will have to comply.”
According to Eurasia, while Facebook has been taken off the blacklist, the news sites remain blocked, adding that Facebook was still accessible last week through the use of proxy servers.
Despite the perceived threat, Tajikistan’s Facebook use is minimal at best. The social network only has just over 34,000 users, which accounts for a measly 0.46% of the population. Even when looking at Facebook’s penetration rate of it’s online population, it is still dismally low at 4.95%.
As of December last year, Tajikistan’s Internet penetration rates stood at just over 10% of the population.
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