Papua New Guinea to temporarily ban Facebook, launch replacement

Facebook has been in hot water for a long time and now, Papua New Guinea is planning to ban the social media site for a month to filter out fake accounts and also provide a replacement.

Local news report stated that officials from Papua New Guinea might ban access to the social media site Facebook for a month and this time would also give them the opportunity to study its effects on the population.

Communications Minister Sam Basil told the Post-Courier, “The time will allow information to be collected to identify 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. This will allow genuine people with real identities to use the social network responsibly.”

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As per The Verge, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that this plan is one of the ideas under consideration for Facebook, and it’s raising questions about government censorship already. Basil said that the government has the power to enforce the ban under its 2016’s Cyber Crime Act.

He said that the government was also considering the prospect of ‘a new social network site’ built for the country’s citizens that it can monitor more closely.

“We can also look at the possibility of creating a new social network site for PNG citizens to use with genuine profiles as well. 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,” Basil said.

Moreover, a Facebook spokesperson told Global News, “We have reached out to the government to understand their concerns.