Facebook Blocked in Uzbekistan

Coinciding with Reporters Without Borders release of the Press Freedom Index on October 20, Facebook was blocked in Uzbekistan for a day when the report listed the country as 163rd out of 178 countries. Ranked near countries such as Libya and Cuba, the Eurasian country was placed only slightly above China (171st), Iran (175th), and North Korea (177th).

Herdict reports no Facebook inaccessibility notifications. The Uzbekistan profile page indicates that the most recent Facebook inaccessibility report was from 2009.

According to the CentralAsia Newswire, the Uzbek government also blocked the article on newsru.com, although they refrained from blocking the entire news site. As a nation known for its suppression of the press, Uzbekistan has been mentioned in the international media for imprisoning journalists.

For more information, visit Uzbekistan’s OpenNet profile.

About the Author: Qichen Zhang

Qichen is an undergraduate studying Social Studies at Harvard College. Besides Herdict, she blogs for the Berkman Center's OpenNet Initiative and Blogging Common. She can be reached at qzhang@fas.harvard.edu.