The government of Papua New Guinea, a country located in the Pacific, has announced that it will ban Facebook for a month to study the effects that the world’s largest social network is having on its citizens.
The move, meanwhile, will also crack down on “fake users,” according to the Australia Broadcasting Corporation.
Less than 10 percent of the country’s population of 8 million have access to the Internet, let alone Facebook, the BBC reported.
Communication Minister Sam Basil told the Post-Courier: “The time will allow information to be collected to identify users that hide behind fake accounts, users that upload pornographic images, users that post false and misleading information.”
He added: “We can also look at the possibility of creating a new social network site for PNG citizens to use with genuine profiles as well.”
“If need be then we can gather our local applications developers to create a site that is more conducive for Papua New Guineans to communicate within the country and abroad as well,” he said.
Facebook has not responded to the move.
Papua New Guinea isn’t the first country to ban Facebook for a period of time. In March, Sri Lanka blocked Facebook and Facebook-owned WhatsApp to respond to posts that called for attacks on Muslims.
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