Iran Blocks Facebook

Mariyam Suzanne

PGDM student

Social networking site Facebook has been blocked in Iran by the country's government to stop supporters of a reformist candidate in the upcoming presidential elections from using the site for the campaign, BBC News reported Sunday.

'According to certain Internet surfers, the site was banned because supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi were using Facebook to better disseminate the candidate's positions’.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was Iran's prime minister when the post was abolished in 1989, is seen as one of the leading challengers to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 elections, BBC reported.

Mousavi's page on Facebook has more than 5,000 supporters. People trying to visit the site in Iran received a message in Farsi saying: 'Access to this site is not possible.'

Facebook has expressed its disappointment over the ban saying that its site was blocked 'at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source of information about election candidates and their positions'.

The question here arises that the political interference not only ruins the business relations but also create hindrances to its easy accessibility with no relevant outcome. What is infact the common man’s plea in this case??