{"id":1650,"date":"2025-03-25T09:04:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T09:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=1650"},"modified":"2025-03-25T09:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T09:04:16","slug":"papua-new-guinea-bloacks-facebook-as-part-of-test-to-curb-harmful-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=1650","title":{"rendered":"Papua New Guinea bloacks Facebook as part of Test to curb harmful content"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Papua New Guinea\u2019s government has blocked Facebook, saying the move is a &#8220;test&#8221; aimed at curbing misinformation, hate speech, and explicit content.<\/p>\n<p>The shutdown, enforced under the country\u2019s anti-terrorism laws, began on Monday and has continued into Tuesday. Authorities have not confirmed when access will be restored.<\/p>\n<p>The decision has drawn sharp criticism from opposition lawmakers, media groups, and business leaders, who argue it undermines free speech and disrupts economic activity.<\/p>\n<p>Police Minister Peter Tsiamalili said the government is not attempting to suppress free speech but wants to ensure &#8220;responsible usage&#8221; of social media.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The unchecked proliferation of fake news, hate speech, pornography, child exploitation, and incitement to violence on platforms such as Facebook is unacceptable,&#8221; Tsiamalili said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>With an estimated 1.3 million users, Facebook is the dominant social media platform in PNG. It plays a crucial role in political discourse, commerce, and community engagement.<\/p>\n<p>Opposition MP Allan Bird called the move &#8220;draconian,&#8221; warning that the government is heading &#8220;into dangerous territory.&#8221; The Media Council of PNG also condemned the ban, calling it an &#8220;abuse of human rights.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Business groups expressed concern that the ban would impact small traders who rely on Facebook for sales. &#8220;The informal sector will be the most affected,&#8221; said John Pora, chairman of PNG\u2019s Small and Medium Enterprise Corporation.<\/p>\n<p>The country\u2019s National Information and Communications Technology Authority said it was unaware of the government\u2019s plan, raising further questions about the ban\u2019s execution.<\/p>\n<p>Facebook\u2019s parent company, Meta, has yet to comment on the shutdown.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Papua New Guinea\u2019s government has blocked Facebook, saying the move is a &#8220;test&#8221; aimed at curbing misinformation, hate speech, and explicit content. The shutdown, enforced under the country\u2019s anti-terrorism laws, began on Monday and has continued into Tuesday. Authorities have not confirmed when access will be restored. The decision has drawn sharp criticism from opposition [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}