Did Armenia Censor Facebook?

An anonymous Slashdot reader writes: "Only one day after Twitter was throttled in Turkey during an ill-fated coup attempt, social media again seemed to become a target during unrest in Armenia's capital, Yerevan," reports Mashable. A day after Turkey's president declared that Friday's coup has failed, armed men had taken hostages in nearby Armenia, and "The National Security Service accused the hostage takers' supporters of spreading false rumors on the internet about an uprising and the seizure of other buildings," according to Reuters. "Early Sunday, journalists and others in Armenia used Twitter to suggest Facebook had been blocked for a period as the incident unfolded," Mashable reports, noting that later Facebook access appeared to be restored. Facebook was unavailable for comment.

No.

[Gravis Zero]

Point, Betteridge!

how dare they

[frovingslosh]

How dare these third world dictatorships try to censor Facebook. That's America and Israel's job!

Re:

[ls671]

There should be world wide censoring of each and every post on Facebook. Nothing would be lost.

Re:

[lyovushka]

As a former Soviet country Armenia never was a third world country [wikipedia.org] (unlike Switzerland, Finland and Ireland). Nor is it a dictatorship [wikipedia.org].

Yes...

[SeattleLawGuy]

Any communications system with a central point of failure (e.g. simple vulnerability to deliberate censorship, such as reliance on a given data center) will be a target during any kind of power struggle, coup, war, or other time of political dissent.

Re:

[Hylandr]

The real problem is these 'communications' on social media don't even have to be true. All it takes is a bunch of people that think it's real to start taking it to the streets then there *is* something to 'communicate' about. I offer chem-trail conspiracy nuts as evidence of this mass stupidity.

More likely than not it's some dissident state trying to stir up conflict. Social media makes this much easier to do. [ Semi secret Govt intelligence agency ] can get directly to the people.

Mass hysteria is only a c

Surprise? Really?

[Frosty Piss]

What is surprising about this? Anything? Facebook and Twitter are private for-cashola businesses, not governmental ogs... Other government can and will block them as they see a benefit to their junta.

The real question: Does anyone care?

[Qbertino]

EOM

Social media is just mob by proxy

[Anonymous Coward]

and the mob can and should be silenced during periods of national emergency, because potential for things to get out of control, based on misinformation, provocative lies and half truths, is very high.

Re: You should be more worried about Facebook itse

[Christopher C]

Worries me too. And ultimately it doesn't matter if it's a government org or a private company doing the manipulating, if someone or a small group is able to misinform millions of people it worries me.

Right to express

[gighatch]

From the incident, it was evident that the violence of right to express is coming along. So is the ban. Will it really solve any problem? I don't think so!