Facebook users in a country with a population of roughly 8 million will soon no longer be able to access the social media platform, according to Papua New Guinea’s Communications Minister Sam Basil.
The shutdown, first reported by the Post-Courier based in the Oceanian nation, is expected to last a month.
“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,” Basil said.
“This will allow genuine people with real identities to use the social network responsibly.”
During that period, the government will continue to explore establishing its own social media site that could serve as a permanent substitute for the U.S.-based tech giant and its services.
“We can also look at the possibility of creating a new social network site for PNG citizens to use with genuine profiles as well,” Basil continued, according to the Post-Courier.
“If there need be then we can gather our local applications developers to create a site that is more conducive for Papua New Guineans to communicate within the country and abroad as well.” – READ MORE
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