Countries Where Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok Are Banned and Why?

Global Web Index’s findings show that 54% of the world’s population uses social media. According to updated statistics, about 4. 62 billion people, or 58% of the world population, have Internet access. 4 %, and this figure increases day by day. This popularity of social media makes absolute sense. With such social platforms as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok tok, we can converse and interact with old friends, meet new people with like minds, and monitor the happenings in the world.

That is why, today, people do not pay much attention to social media and use it as a natural necessity. We can explore so much ‘open’ information and convey it so freely. However, to the oppressive regimes, such aspects are why social media is a threat.

Citizens of free countries fail to comprehend how it is normal for social media bans to occur at relatively frequent intervals. Most governments from across the globe pay keen attention and continue to police the communication media and the internet that their citizens have access to.

Which countries block social media, and how do they operate it? Now, let’s discuss how the authoritarian nations of the world deal with various social media platforms today.

Countries Where Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok Are Banned:

1. Nigeria

Some Nigerian citizens received a chance to get on the site for the first time in seven months last week as the government withdrew its prejudice about the social site.

It all started in June when Nigeria’s government compelled telecom operators to suspend access to Twitter following the microblogging site’s action of suspending a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari for violating what it described as the abusive behavior policy. The administration lashed out at the popular social media site among journalists and activists in the country, banning access to the site through its Mobile networks and describing what it said were activities capable of leading to the destruction of Nigeria as a corporate entity.

Nigeria lifted the ban on January 13 after it agreed to some conditions, including that Twitter opens an office in Nigeria, employ a chief operator for the business, and pay taxes in Nigeria. Twitter selected Ghana as the place of its first African headquarters much before the ban, and it ignored Nigeria, the most prominent African market.

However, it is worth noting that although Nigerians can now freely tweet without a VPN, many other nations have not fully lifted the ban on using mainstream social media channels.

1. China

Facebook and Twitter, owned by Meta, have been banned in China since 2009 after Beijing’s crackdown on activists following the riots in Xinjiang province. Due to the limitation of foreign media and censorship of non-government material, Chinese authorities’ move has been termed the Great Firewall of China. The company’s messaging application, WhatsApp, and a photo—and video-sharing application, Instagram, are also unavailable.

The most commonly used one in China is WeChat, a multi-function massage platform created by Tencent company. The app was initiated in 2011 and has continuously operated with government funding, and it is expected to forward individuals’ information to the state. WeChat controls all user data; mini-apps enable users to pay bills, book doctor appointments, or even report crimes. Earlier in 2017, WeChat announced the possibility of introducing ID cards that the state will verify within the app.

TikTok, a video-sharing application built by China’s Bytedance Limited, is not operational in China. Users can, however, download a twin app, Douyin, which the same company, Bytedance, has created. Douyin has restrictions like the ban on the availability of some foreign content and the restriction of children’s engagement. TikTok’s Chinese version and other related information-sharing social media are owned by this subsidiary, in which the Chinese state is interested.

1. India

When TikTok launched in India in 2016, the country became one of Bytedance’s most significant markets outside of China: Statistics released in April of the previous year revealed that out of all the downloads, 30% were of TikTok out of all the countries in the world. It was compatible with multiple regional languages, making many people in the country use it.

But, then, in June 2020, the Indian government ceased the operation of TikTok and 58 other smartphone applications by claiming that such activities are “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order.” This action was deemed as an act of reprisal by the Indian government due to friction between Indian and Chinese forces in the Himalayan region. Also shut was the Chinese app WeChat. ByteDance has downsized its operations in India, which in the worst sense, the company has pulled out its operations almost entirely since the ban.

1. Iran

The political use of Facebook and Twitter has been restricted since 2009 in Iran due to disputed elections and protests of the masses against the government, thus restricting the political opposition. Some users have evolved methods for circumventing the blocks using a VPN connection. But there are laws proposed that may ban VPNs, force people to show their IDs before using the internet and put the powers of gating access to the web in the hands of security agencies. In 2020, Iran said that it is working with China to develop a new national Iranian internet, and similar to what is observed with the Great Firewall in China, they plan on imposing similar restrictions.

On 8 January 2021, Twitter suspended the account, which many think belongs to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which threatened Donald Trump. Khamenei himself has a verified account on Twitter.

1. North Korea

North Korea prohibited Facebook and Twitter in 2016 and stated that people who attempt to use the internet with improper intentions or share anti-republic data will be punished.

Before the ban was imposed, very few people in North Korea had an internet connection; most only had a domestic internet, otherwise known as an intranet. Most official blocking of social media websites limited the posts from foreigners who otherwise provided information from North Korea to the global community.

1. Turkmenistan

The former Soviet Central Asian country has also prohibited the best-known foreign social media applications, including Facebook, Twitter, and the most significant Russian ones. Moreover, besides having no access to Facebook and Twitter and using faithful pledges on the Quran that will not try to connect to a VPN, Turkmenistan, a predominantly Muslim country, offers home internet connections. They are given prepared statements that they are expected to sign and denounce the internet and any related means of accessing banned sites.

Final Words:

Restrictions on social media have multiple consequences and are not a simple phenomenon that influences the whole process of communication, conducting business, and organizational life. Despite these, governments may explain such bans concerning national security and social stability impacts on the freedom of citizens and the world in general.

Balancing the two is essential, and security cannot be fully yielded for freedom. While governments have reasonable reasons to ban social media, a blanket ban harms people by restricting their liberties and rights.

Education and campaigning can help prevent social media bans. People who own a country’s powerful leadership, associations, and global society must continue the fight for Internet freedom and keep Web space open and available for everyone.