Papua New Guinea's Minister for Communications and Information Technology hasn't ruled out an indefinite ban on Facebook.
Photo: 123RF
Sam Basil was questioned in parliament about this week's Post Courier newspaper report revealing he was planning a one-month shutdown of the social media platform.
Mr Basil distanced himself from a suggestion he was planning on the shutdown when PNG hosts the APEC summit in November.
But he said concern about pornographic material, fake information and defamation on social media had prompted his ministry to seek detailed briefings from its line agencies on how Facebook is used in PNG.
He said the government would act on the advice it receives back.
"If we go down that path, I am not afraid to put an indefinite ban. We understand that the Facebook medium is very good, every Papua New Guineans are using it, even some small businesses. Mr Speaker there are Cybercrimes Act that people have breached."
"There are issues about pornography in social media and there are issues about fake accounts, people using fake accounts defaming other people," Mr Basil said
"We are not saying that we do not want people to use Facebook, everybody is a genuine user, just that very few handful of people who are pushing pornography and putting false and fake statements on social media.
"If I get the advice that is right, I will not be ashamed to shut down Facebook for an indefinite period so that we put those things in order."
