In the present age, limitless access to the internet is usually taken for granted. It is through services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat that we're able to keep in touch with old acquaintances, make new friends, and socially discuss several events.
There's an opportunity in such open data and the capacity to communicate so extensively. Be that as it may, social media is also about something other than opportunity. It is a useful asset that can destabilize oppressive governments and save lives.
However, sadly, for many internet consumers, the use of these services is restricted. This is because a large number of the famous sites and applications we are so acquainted with are blocked in various nations.
While it might be hard for you and me to fathom, there are people around the world who have their data consumption, media, and web access stringently observed and inspected by the public authority. Here, we present you the rundown of a few social media platforms and applications that are not legitimately accessible in different nations.
India
The Indian government recently prohibited 54 more applications, bringing the complete count of applications restricted in the country since June 2020 to 274, as indicated by The Indian Express. Back in mid-2020 too, the Indian govt in a frenzy banned a lot of popular apps. China-based TikTok was among the prohibited applications.
Meanwhile, noticeable platforms like Shein, Weibo, Baidu, PubG Mobile, Alipay, and AliExpress have also stopped being legitimately accessible in India. The reason for the boycotts, as said by the government, is their activities being “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the state and public order.”
Turkey
Turkey restricted Wikipedia in 2017 after the distributers of the site declined requests to erase two articles that showed Turkey as allies of militant groups engaged in the Syrian Civil War. Turkey blames the data site to play a role in an anti-Turkish campaign and denies all cases made against the country.
Nonetheless, the Wikimedia Foundation - the distributers of Wikipedia said that they would not be able to alter the transferred articles as it violates some of their policies.
Turkey and Twitter also go way back. In 2014, Turkey’s then Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, restricted the platform after audio recordings were shared widely through Twitter that implicated his administration on claims of corruption. Although the blockage just went on for about fourteen days, until it was briefly brought in again in 2015. This time, the ban was also put on Facebook and YouTube.
Since then, the boycotts have been lifted, yet Turkey keeps on being a thorn in the side of Twitter.
Russia
The public authority of Russia confined Google and Amazon's cloud platforms in a move to obstruct Telegram when it heard that terrorists were utilizing the application to plan their assaults. Since Telegram doesn't make use of its own servers for Russian clients, the administration had no real option except to ban more than 15.8 million IP addresses that were thought to be utilized by Telegram.
But this made a ton of issues as a considerable lot of the hindered IP addresses were also being utilized by Russian banks and online stores.
Reddit is one more site that had had difficulty operating in Russia following an article that showed viewers how to develop psychedelic mushrooms. This assortment of mushrooms is unlawful in many nations and can cause LSD in people.
Additionally, amid the Ukraine crackdown, Russia has restricted access to global social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and has urged people to shift to their domestic version of such sites. YouTube may soon suffer the same fate as it comes under growing pressure from Russia’s state communications regulator.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and some other middle eastern nations have banned Voice over Internet Protocol services (VoIP) and informing applications/sites like WhatsApp, Skype, Snapchat, FaceTime, and Telegram after a worry was raised that these mediums will consume the profits of the nations’ telecom organizations.
Nonetheless, a few sites and applications are unblocked after the organizations got licenses from a few particular states.
China
Surprisingly, there is a whole generation of Chinese individuals who have never known about sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Indeed, even Google and Wikipedia are prohibited in the country because of issues such as censorship. Influential tech organizations like Facebook and Google even had a go at making Chinese adaptations of their applications however China had a few lingering doubts about their usage too.
Even though the video-sharing application TikTok was created by the Chinese organization Bytedance, it isn't accessible in China. Rather people can download a similar application, Douyin, which also was evolved by Bytedance. Douyin comes with limitations like limits on global content and some restrictions on kids' utilization.
The Chinese state possesses a stake in the Bytedance subsidiary that controls its homegrown virtual entertainment and data platforms.
Written by- Priyanshi Deolal
Edited by- Priyanshi Deolal
.jpeg)
0 Comments