Facebook banned in United Arab Emirates?

by Grant Robertson Oct 1st 2007

Users of Facebook in the United Arab Emirates have been left wondering if their access to the site will continue after major telco Etisalat appeared to have blocked the site today. Many Web sites are actively blocked in the Persian Gulf country which is home to a large expatriate community from India, the US, Europe and other countries in the Middle East.

The Muslim nation blocks many sites on the basis that they are against the moral or religious values of the UAE, however the selection of sites in the past has often been arbitrary and includes a ban on VOIP, which appears to be more focused on maintaining profits at the two main telcos than concerns over moral values. Earlier this year the
social networking site Orkut fell afoul of UAE's blocking policies which also prevent access to dating sites.

The move may not be permanent as Facebook users are currently just experiencing a 'Page Not Found' error instead of the 'UAE Screen of Death' (as pictured) so the authorities may just be testing the waters. UAE Facebook users have been concerned about this possibility for some time and have set up an online petition.

Tags: censorship, Facebook, middle east, MiddleEast, offline, UAE

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Aaron Robinson said 5:12PM on 10-01-2007

USE TORPARK!

look up torpark

it's free and it's anonymous web browsing

lona said 6:41PM on 10-01-2007

they gotta stop controling us, and pushing us away, facebook is part of our lifestyle , and in a regular use of facebook . there is nuthing unethical or illigal , if thats the case .. they should ban MOBILE PHONES. facebook is a module "middle man" not a source of Porn, nt even copyrighted music and vedios .

nadari said 7:23PM on 10-01-2007

What? UAE? With Dubai serving as its prayer center to the religion of greed, the superficial, conspicuous consumption, shallow thinking, worship of anything gucci, vuitton, chanel -- any 'luxury' name from the west, UAE wants may ban facebook?

Ethics? Religion? Unless it is for sale in a mall, it isn't guiding UAE national values.

anita said 11:24PM on 10-01-2007

this is a complaint my group had passed to etisalat

Facebook is a community webiste , that enables us to keep in contact with all our friends all over the world. , i DONT UNDERSTAND why would you close it, Facebook is just the lifestyle DUBAI gives US . no1 has time to ask about no1. no1 has patience to keep track of any relative/friend's life .. Facebook made it so easy and convenient to be able to know what is happening with our loved ones. plus it is an active tool for all the events and Radio stations . to interact with fans and customers. it is so friendly and borderless. Whoever wanna use it in a wrong way it is THEIR responsiblity .. WHAT R U CLOSING IT FOR? HI5 and myspace has so much disturbing contents , but facebook has nuthing, and if there are groups for explicit contents .. you just have to report it .. and you wouldnt come to know about it UNLESS u R SEARCHING for it.

I managed to find relatives for me i hv never expected to ever know how they look like , My relatives and family i dont even see them, we are all busy to stay online on MSN and chat, and you are only taking away our freedom on how to use our time and money for your SERVICES. We are so shocked how you could do that with no aparent reason.

if we cant facebook , we cant download, we cant talk through Voip , then what else is LEFT for internet communication ? EMAILS? thank you so much for such a convenient offering.

i eccepted everything before facebook, but now i just feel how controled we can be and WITH NO aparent convencing reason .. taking our freedom rights and we have to stay and keep supporting you and pay.

i am so dissapointed , this is not UAE

Dave said 12:29AM on 10-02-2007

Try http://www.facebook.com/login.php
it works, at least for now anyway...

Ajay said 1:40PM on 10-03-2007

i used pagemod.com as a proxy they blocked it..thn pmoder.info tht too they blocked.. but https://pagemod.com and http://pagemod.com:1234/ is working for me

Cleo said 7:58AM on 10-04-2007

False. Facebook is NOT blocked in the UAE. I am a UAE user and have no problem using it.
Cleo

Ryan Nadel said 12:53PM on 10-04-2007

I posted a story about this on NowPublic.com - see here:
http://www.nowpublic.com/node/661305

Feel free to comment.

arabfriendz said 1:32PM on 10-13-2007

I didnt know about that that is new , well there is always another Arabic Community site such as http://www.arabfriendz.com

hamdi said 10:46AM on 11-05-2007

hamdi said 10:57AM on 11-05-2007

you make me want you .

shenal said 3:02PM on 11-07-2007

want to open all blocked sites

hamdi said 5:16PM on 11-11-2007

you make me want you

Ajay said 1:13PM on 11-12-2007

PAGEmod new domain : http://www.qmoder.info

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