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.
It’s trolls, trolls are what Facebook stands on. But what do the trolls stand on? It’s trolls on trolls on trolls all the way down.
There is nothing trustworthy on Facebook. Shut it down.
My father is a prepper in his 70s and my brother has become a flat earther. Down with Facebook and YouTube, the two halves of the most evil and vile existence on this planet. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Youtube is not all bad. The algorithm is, but the vast amount of content on it means that theres some genuinely helpful stuff. Videos about repair and fixing, educational videos on any subject in the world, videos about acceptance and self love
There’s no hope for facebook though, except the not so facebook marketplace (im gonna need a resurgence in like craigslist for that)
It’s really suspicious how the yt algo keeps trying to deliver me right wing content when I don’t really engage with political content on that site and the few pieces I do, is Behind the Bastards or Lazerpig.
I ended up installed a 3rd party channel blocker.
edit: I’ll add that Amazon keeps suggesting right wing podcasts as being related to very non-political items(just window shopping Amazon. I don’t purchase from there unless no one else has the item).