Facebook faces a month’s ban in Papua New Guinea

Social media site to be blocked to help authorities root out false accounts and misleading information

PAPUA NEW GUINEA has said it will ban Facebook for a month to give its authorities time to sift the social network for fake profiles and assess its impact on the country after mounting criticism of the site. Sam Basil, the south-east Asian nation’s communications minister, said the site would be blocked while authorities rooted out accounts deemed to be using it inappropriately.

“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,” Mr Basil told the country’s Post-courier daily newspaper. “This will allow genuine people with real identities to use the social network responsibly.

“We cannot allow the abuse of Facebook to continue in the country.”

Mr Basil said that the move was an attempt to enforce the Cyber Crime Act, a law passed in 2016 to crack down on online criminals. He characterised the suspension as an attempt to hunt down those violating the law.

The move follows increasing concern over the violation of Facebook users’ privacy following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Mr Basil has been outspoken in raising questions about the site, saying US Senate hearings on Facebook and a class-action lawsuit brought against Cambridge Analytica, and other companies over misuse of data raise concerns for Papua New Guinea citizens.

Last month he commissioned a wide-ranging study of the impact of Facebook on the country and the security of users’ personal information.

Just under 10 per cent of Papua New Guinea’s eight million people have access to the internet. Mr Basil is not the only southeast Asian politician to raise the prospect of banning Facebook, purportedly for the public good.

Neighbouring Indonesia last month issued Facebook with four demands for information related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the security of users’ data.

In Sri Lanka authorities temporarily blocked access to 5.5 million Facebook accounts following race riots in March, which the government said had been incited on social media. The company is also facing increasing pressure over allegations it is being used by dictatorial regimes to manipulate public opinion.

The Daily Telegraph reports today that a Cambodian opposition leader is seeking data from Facebook about the country’s leader, Hun Sen, 65, who he alleges bought fake Facebook likes to boost his political influence.

A Facebook spokesman said: “We have reached out to the Papua New Guinea government to understand their concerns.”