According to the Norwegian telecom Telenor, access to Twitter and Instagram have been ordered to be blocked for users in Myanmar until “further notice”. This blockade was ordered issued to the mobile operators and internet service providers by the new military rulers of the country on Friday after they had taken over the country’s government earlier this week.
Prior to this blockade, the military rulers of the country had already ordered the country’s internet service providers to also stop the access of people in the country to the largest social media company platform the world Facebook. According to the last available data form this United States based tech giant, at least half of the population of the country of 54 million were regular users of the platform as on February 6.
There were no comments on the order available from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. It had however previously stated that access of people to Facebook had been ordered by it to maintain “stability” in the country.
There were also no comments made by Twitter, which is also under some pressure from authorities in India, on the issue of the blockade.
The news of the blockade on Instagram was confirmed by a spokesman for Facebook. “We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and access important information,” he told the media.
While expressing grave concerns over the blockade order, Telenor said in a statement that the necessity of the blockade has been challenged by the company with the military and related authorities.
Twitter and Instagram were being used by millions of people in Myanmar after the military rulers imposed the ban on Facebook. The users shifted to using the social media platforms of Twitter and Instagram to voice their opposition to the military coup in the country which was orchestrated on Monday this week as the military forcefully ousted the elected government and arrested the country’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The coup by the army is being criticized by many people over the available social media platforms and by the use of pro-democracy hashtags. Such protestors are also calling for organizing peaceful protests until the result of November election is given respect to. In that election Suu Kyi had won a landslide victory.
According to hashtag tracker BrandMentions, there were hundreds of thousands of interactions by Friday on a number of hashtags such as #RespectOurVotes, #HearTheVoiceofMyanmar, and #SaveMyanmar.
According to the military the elections in which Suu Kyi and her National Democracy League won a landslide majority had been fraudulently conducted. The military rulers however provided no proof of the same.
The election commission of the country has said that the elections were free and fair.
(Source:www.cnbc.com)
Prior to this blockade, the military rulers of the country had already ordered the country’s internet service providers to also stop the access of people in the country to the largest social media company platform the world Facebook. According to the last available data form this United States based tech giant, at least half of the population of the country of 54 million were regular users of the platform as on February 6.
There were no comments on the order available from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. It had however previously stated that access of people to Facebook had been ordered by it to maintain “stability” in the country.
There were also no comments made by Twitter, which is also under some pressure from authorities in India, on the issue of the blockade.
The news of the blockade on Instagram was confirmed by a spokesman for Facebook. “We urge authorities to restore connectivity so that people in Myanmar can communicate with family and friends and access important information,” he told the media.
While expressing grave concerns over the blockade order, Telenor said in a statement that the necessity of the blockade has been challenged by the company with the military and related authorities.
Twitter and Instagram were being used by millions of people in Myanmar after the military rulers imposed the ban on Facebook. The users shifted to using the social media platforms of Twitter and Instagram to voice their opposition to the military coup in the country which was orchestrated on Monday this week as the military forcefully ousted the elected government and arrested the country’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The coup by the army is being criticized by many people over the available social media platforms and by the use of pro-democracy hashtags. Such protestors are also calling for organizing peaceful protests until the result of November election is given respect to. In that election Suu Kyi had won a landslide victory.
According to hashtag tracker BrandMentions, there were hundreds of thousands of interactions by Friday on a number of hashtags such as #RespectOurVotes, #HearTheVoiceofMyanmar, and #SaveMyanmar.
According to the military the elections in which Suu Kyi and her National Democracy League won a landslide majority had been fraudulently conducted. The military rulers however provided no proof of the same.
The election commission of the country has said that the elections were free and fair.
(Source:www.cnbc.com)