Solomon Islands moves to impose Facebook ban

The Solomon Islands cabinet has agreed to temporarily ban Facebook due to misuse and lack of regulation over the social networking site, local media reported on Tuesday.

Communications Minister Peter Shanel Agovaka confirmed the decision to the Solomon Times newspaper, saying that controversial issues had been raised via the platform.

He said there were concerns over lack of legislation to "govern the use of the internet."

"Abusive languages against ministers, prime minister, character assassination, defamation of character, all these are issues of concerns," Agovaka told the Solomon Times Online (STO).

"The use of the internet now in Solomon Islands needs to be properly regulated to safeguard our young people from harmful content."

Agovaka assured that media organizations would still be able to operate as usual, except for losing access to the social media platform.

A firewall to block FB

Most of the Pacific nation's media utilizes Facebook and the prime minister uses the platform to livestream national addresses, according to the STO.

Agovaka said the government still needs "to work out how this can be done" and did not specify how long the ban will be in place for.

"The operators shall need to establish a firewall to block Facebook," Agovaka said.

Currently China, Iran and North Korea also have a ban on Facebook.