Iran Finally Ready To Release Facebook Cut Off?

Obama showed how his smart social strategy contributed to win the elections. But how can social media help to win elections in a country like Iran? There freedom of speech or expressing opinions and ideas, is not without fear for punishment.

Screenshot of Mir Hossein Mousavi’s Facebook page

Facebook was cut off temporary in Iran, leading to accusations that authorities were trying to muzzle one of the main campaign tools of reformists opposing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 12 2009 elections.

The main pro-reform candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, is seeking a strong turnout from young voters and has used Facebook to try to mobilize support. See his Facebook page here.

Authorities have not directly commented on the Facebook outage, and the reason for its return was not immediately clear.

It also was not known whether the renewed Facebook access is permanent. Iranian authorities have restored then re-imposed blocks on websites in the past.

Again this story shows the world that freedom of speech is still not for granted in countries like the Koreas, China and Iran. And that social networks are being perceived as very powerful weapons of mass affection.

But authorities in similar countries should realize that internet is making the world flat and transparent, even in their own countries.

Source: Womma & LA Times