Thou shalt not click

In the news...Iran banns Facebook.

In the last few years, the social-networking site Facebook has been making the headlines with fraught privacy laws, predictions of inevitable bankruptcy and the never-ending user growth. Today, somebody finally seems to have taken it seriously for the first time.

According to the BBC, the Iranian government has temporarily banned access to the website prior to the July 12 presidential elections. The action is speculatively explained by President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s opponents as a way to limit the exposure of his chief rival, the former Prime Minister (1981-89) Mir Hussein Moussavi. Facebook has expressed its regret that the ban has come "at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source of information about election candidates and their positions". Now, it does seem that Facebook has maybe taken itself a bit too seriously. 

If you enter Mr. Moussavi’s name in the Facebook ‘search’ bar, you’ll see that he has about 20 supporter pages, the largest of which numbers just over 5,000 members. According to the Financial Times, who we trust to have counted diligently, Mr. Moussavi has over 7,500 followers. President Ahmadinejad also has a support base. His biggest fan-club has just over 7,000 members. However, one cannot but notice multiple minor groups titled ‘Assassinate Ahmadinejad’, ‘ Ahmadinejad = Hitler’ and, pardon me but I am only quoting, ‘FUCK Ahmadinejad’. There are over 500 of these doting or hating groups, some counting only one member. You might think it’s a big number. Not when you consider that FOX’s Dr. House has 4.5 million fans, trailed by Michael Phelps with 1.7 million. On Facebook, more people seem to care about pickles than Iranian politics. Ok, I’m exaggerating. The number’s actually about the same.

Well, then. There are words whispered about ‘freedoms’ and ‘informations’. Facebook would like to take this opportunity to thank Iran for making it appear much more relevant than it ever has been. According to the Financial Times, again (we do like their numbers), out of Iran’s 70 million inhabitants, 47 million have mobile phones and 21 million have internet access. Admittedly, Facebook has facilitated the spread of junk-mail to all your friends in one swift click. But it has not replaced good old reliable e-mail. And online publications offer a comprehensive overview of any politician you may be interested in. When researching Obama’s foreign policy, who are you going to trust: Mike from Hawaii (Creator) or The Economist? Hm. Let me think about this one. 

So all in all, the information blockade did not happen in Iran. Compared to China’s 1989 foreign media blackout, this was a minor hiccup. After a few hours, access has been reinstated. Iranian people are now free to take ‘What ice-cream flavour are you?’ quizzes and poke each until the sun goes down.  We’ll just have to watch Facebook try transporting its virtual importance into the real world, while its 175 million active users remain plugged into the wall.