Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Did Armenia Censor Facebook? (mashable.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the Turkey's-next-door-neighbor dept.

An anonymous Slashdot reader writes: "Only one day after Twitter was throttled in Turkey during an ill-fated coup attempt, social media again seemed to become a target during unrest in Armenia's capital, Yerevan," reports Mashable. A day after Turkey's president declared that Friday's coup has failed, armed men had taken hostages in nearby Armenia, and "The National Security Service accused the hostage takers' supporters of spreading false rumors on the internet about an uprising and the seizure of other buildings," according to Reuters. "Early Sunday, journalists and others in Armenia used Twitter to suggest Facebook had been blocked for a period as the incident unfolded," Mashable reports, noting that later Facebook access appeared to be restored. Facebook was unavailable for comment.

10 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. No. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    Point, Betteridge!

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  2. how dare they by frovingslosh · · Score: 1

    How dare these third world dictatorships try to censor Facebook. That's America and Israel's job!

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:how dare they by ls671 · · Score: 1

      There should be world wide censoring of each and every post on Facebook. Nothing would be lost.

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    2. Re:how dare they by lyovushka · · Score: 1

      As a former Soviet country Armenia never was a third world country (unlike Switzerland, Finland and Ireland). Nor is it a dictatorship.

  3. Yes... by SeattleLawGuy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Any communications system with a central point of failure (e.g. simple vulnerability to deliberate censorship, such as reliance on a given data center) will be a target during any kind of power struggle, coup, war, or other time of political dissent.

    --
    Real lawyers write in C++
  4. Surprise? Really? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    What is surprising about this? Anything? Facebook and Twitter are private for-cashola businesses, not governmental ogs... Other government can and will block them as they see a benefit to their junta.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  5. The real question: Does anyone care? by Qbertino · · Score: 1

    EOM

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  6. Social media is just mob by proxy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    and the mob can and should be silenced during periods of national emergency, because potential for things to get out of control, based on misinformation, provocative lies and half truths, is very high.

  7. Re: You should be more worried about Facebook itse by c.s.carlson6 · · Score: 1

    Worries me too. And ultimately it doesn't matter if it's a government org or a private company doing the manipulating, if someone or a small group is able to misinform millions of people it worries me.

  8. Right to express by gighatch · · Score: 1

    From the incident, it was evident that the violence of right to express is coming along. So is the ban. Will it really solve any problem? I don't think so!