
Papua New Guinea bans Facebook for a month to root out 'fake users' - danso
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/29/papua-new-guinea-facebook-ban-study-fake-users
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josu
I don't know anything about PNG but it seems to me that they are not studying
anything.

>Analysts will explore how fake news and pornography spreads, and assess
whether country needs its own version of the platform

They are banning facebook, because it probably became a nuisance for the
government. PNG ranks in the 136th place out of 176 countries Corruption
Perception Index. This wikipedia article sheds more light on the issue:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Papua_New_Guinea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Papua_New_Guinea)

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coredog64
Yes, PNG is corrupt, but it’s not like residents don’t know it. PNG is still
somewhat tribal, and a platform like Facebook that makes it easy to demonize
the other does not help anyone.

Source: Used to travel to PNG on business and still have former coworkers that
still do. My favorite news story about PNG corruption was that a group of
merchants were assaulted and robbed in the lobby(!) of a police station.

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docdeek
PNG has some form when it comes to closing down online speech. One blogger
found himself under court injunction for referring to a government official
named Mr. Gamato as Mr. Tomato:

>> The Electoral Commission obtained a court order restraining well-known
blogger Martyn Namorong from tweeting or sharing allegedly defamatory
statements about commissioner Patilias Gamato.

>> Mr Gamato said he was insulted when Mr Namorong began substituting the word
tomato for his surname.

>> "He made some defamatory statements and also called my surname, which is
Gamato as 'tomato'," he said.

>> "I don't look like a tomato, I'm a human being."

[0]: [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-14/png-electoral-
commissi...](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-14/png-electoral-commissioner-
gets-court-order-to-gag-blogger/8710618)

~~~
moolcool
Mr Tomato has apparently never heard of the Streisand Effect

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mromanuk
And how are they planning to "study" the effect of not having FB? this looks
dubious to me. Probably there is other political intention behind.

~~~
ggg9990
Can’t you draw some conclusions, anecdatally, about the impact of Facebook on
societies since its creation? You could do the same in reverse.

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21
PNG case aside, some serious people are arguing today that as our computers
and phone become extensions of our mind, taking some person phone or Facebook
away is a form of torture or human right violation.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg00gK43Id4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg00gK43Id4)

Also adds an interesting spin to talk about restricting children access to
social apps.

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mosselman
I don't follow how banning facebook is required to study its effect on the
population.

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test6554
Exactly!

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sorokod
Presumably some will retain access so that: _“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,”_

Unless the PNG government pulled a "Cambridge Analytica" on its citizens and
squirreled away FB personal data.

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reneherse
Seems heavy handed and ineffectual as a means of hunting down fake users, with
a high risk of cannibalizing the social media presence of legitimate
(especially tourist catering) businesses.

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frockington
I'm sure the The Not So Great Firewall of Papua New Guinea will be very
transparent and will never be abused by government officials /s

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bcoates
It's internet spring cleaning! I wonder if they've acquired a Toshiba ML-2274
to find the fake users?

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klez
You sent me searching for what a Toshiba ML-2274. I was expecting it was some
kind of deep packet inspecting firewall.

Still not disappointed by what I found, and since that joke is not common
around where I live, I plan to use it next year.

