Technical Glitch Momentarily Restores Social Media Access in Iran
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by Zach Pontz
Twitter bird. Photo: wiki commons.
A technical glitch briefly restored access to social media sites Twitter and Facebook Monday in Iran.
The social media sites have been blocked since 2009 after they were used to organize protests against the reigning regime.
Iranians reacted with cautious optimism when they realized the sites were accessible.
“If it is true, I think they have to register today in calendar as a day of Free Filtering,” user Abbas Farokhi told BBC Persian.
However, Iranian authorities blamed “technical problems,” stressing the official policy had not changed, BBC reported.
Most Iranians who want to use social media sites have typically used proxies or other special software to get around the government imposed firewall. Ironically many Iranian ministers have their own Facebook pages, whose presence on the social network is a breach of U.S. sanctions against the country.
The Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center on Monday threatened to take legal action against Facebook unless it stops providing service to some 15 Iranian ministers who have recently opened accounts.
