Country Plans to Ban Facebook for a Month

Papua New Guinea is set to ban Facebook for a month. Unlike with bans in more authoritarian countries, it's designed to research cyber crime laws rather than stifle debate - or so the official explanation goes.

However, the country's government have warned it might need to create a "more conducive" site that meets local laws. The government says its necessary to block access to the site while it investigates if and how Facebook helps users breach the Cyber Crime Act passed in 2016.

The act was an attempt to update numerous laws to cover activity that was often already illegal in the "real world" but where the laws didn't have the scope to cover online behavior. Among the covered topics were defamation, forgery, fraud, hacking, spam and security.

Fake Accounts To Be Targeted

According to the country's communication minister, the temporary block will allow the government to investigate "users that hide behind fake accounts, users that upload pornographic images, users that post false and misleading information on Facebook to be filtered and removed." (Source: postcourier.com.pg)

It's not just a case of putting Facebook on hold for a month to make the collection and analysis of the data easier. The minister also says it will make it possible to measure whether the absence of the site has a positive impact on the population.

Government-Backed Site Could Be Replacement

While the ban is supposedly only a temporary measure, the minister noted it's possible the investigation might conclude that Facebook's current setup and moderation system is simply incompatible with the law.

He heavily implied that Facebook could be replaced altogether, stating that "If there need be then we can gather our local applications developers to create a site that is more conducive for Papua New Guineans to communicate within the country and abroad as well."

Facebook isn't saying much about the proposal, but issued a statement saying "We have reached out to the Papua New Guinea government to understand their concerns." (Source: cnet.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Do you believe the argument that completely blocking Facebook for a month is necessary for the investigation? What's a reasonable expectation for how far Facebook should go to make sure its users comply with local laws? Should the suggestion of a government-developed social network be seen as a threat?