Iran Lifts Block On Twitter, Facebook

Did you see any pigs fly recently? The reason for me asking that is, Iran’s new moderate leadership does seem to be moving in the right direction by embracing the social media revolution as the government has lifted the block on both Twitter as well as Facebook. It must be noted that the block on both social media services was imposed four years ago after a post-election uprising, followed by crackdown in 2009. Ever since Hassan Rouhani took office in August this year, this reform-centric cleric decided to tweet on his own official Twitter account, and he was not alone as the country’s foreign minister also participated.

So far, Rouhani has used social media to share his two cents on the crisis in Syria, while congratulating Iranian athletes as well as bid holiday greetings to the global Jewish community on Rosh Hashanan. Strangely enough, Rouhani did not say anything on Monday night, and neither did he tweet an official announcement where unblocking of the social media outlets are concerned. It is nice to see the country opening up ever so slightly, and any progress is more than welcome. We do wonder what other kinds of progressive moves are in store for the near future.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: iran