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Andrii Degeler
Andrii is the Head of Media at TNW, with over a decade of experience in covering the European tech ecosystem. Talk to him about new and exci Andrii is the Head of Media at TNW, with over a decade of experience in covering the European tech ecosystem. Talk to him about new and exciting developments in tech, especially those involving vastly underreported industry niches and geographies.
Tajikistan’s Office of Telecommunications has officially ordered all ISPs and mobile carriers in the country to block access to Facebook following a spoken order a day earlier.
By Monday evening, all 6 ISPs and 6 mobile carriers in Tajikistan complied to the orders, cutting local users from the world’s biggest social network.
The head of the office Beg Zuhurov has explained the reasons behind blocking Facebook to RIA Novosti,
“I received many calls from citizens of Tajikistan, asking me to shut down this Facebook as a hotbed of slander. Unknown people there insult the leaders of the state. They are apparently being paid well for that.”
Facebook has about 41,000 users in Tajikistan, which accounts for only 0,55% of its population and 5,87% of all local Internet users. This means that the ban apparently won’t have as large an impact as it may have had in other parts of the world, where Facebook is much more popular.
The news about the government restricting access to Facebook in Tajikistan first broke on Monday, after 3 local ISPs complied to a spoken order from the Office of Telecommunications.
A similar situation also occured back in March, when Facebook remained blocked in Tajikistan for about a week.
Image credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images.
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