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559
Papua New Guinea shuts down Facebook in test to stop 'pornography, misinformation, hate speech' (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
47 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Papua New Guinea's government has shut down social media platform Facebook, in what it describes as a "test" to mitigate hate speech, misinformation, pornography and "other detrimental content".

The test, conducted under the country's anti-terrorism laws, began on Monday morning and has extended into Tuesday.

Facebook users in the country have been unable to log-in to the platform and it is unclear how long the ban will go on for.

The government's move was not flagged ahead of the "test" on Monday — a move opposition MPs and media leaders have described as "tyranny" and an "abuse of human rights".

Facebook is by far the most popular social media platform in the country, with an estimated 1.3 million users, or about half of the country's estimated 2.6 million internet users.

The platform is a critical tool for public discourse in the country, with many highly active forums used to discuss PNG politics and social issues.

Yet, the government has been highly critical of Facebook with the platform often blamed for helping spread misinformation, particularly in light of a recent spate of tribal killings in the country.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I agree that Facebook completely sucks, but I disagree that banning any service is worth it from a freedom of speech perspective. Once you let your country ban services it doesn't like, it's one bad administration from banning services critical of it. Don't go down that road.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Agreed. One layer of the onion peeled. Next layer is that all of the content you see is curated and you only are fed fits your profile as dictated by the algorithm. You are served more dopamine hits and churn a lot of nothing.

There's another layer of the onion next. Let's hear what it is.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sure, and I bailed on Facebook and Meta products long ago because I found their services insidious. I still don't trust a government to decide which services to ban though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Is my sentence so vague that it appears I'm saying that? Discourse is harder when you deviate from the format.