Iranian Citizens Criticize Government's Ban on Facebook and Twitter

Following are excerpts from an Alaan TV report featuring Iranian citizens discussing the ban on social media in their country, which aired on October 24, 2013:

Anchor: The Iranian regime banned social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Iranian citizens whom we met last week in Tehran have expressed their dismay over the ban on social media services. They said that while the regime allows senior officials access to these services, it denies the people the opportunity to expand their relations with the world.

Iranian citizen A: Social media sites must be available for the people. In my view, it is a mistake to allow government officials to access these sites, when they are banned to the people. Everyone should be equal in this matter. These sites do not usually carry any political weight, and the people here use them to expand their relations to the world.

Iranian Citizen B: The ban on social media sites must be reexamined. Some senior government members maintain pages on these sites. The ban on these sites must be removed.

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Iranian Citizen C: I want to use Facebook and Twitter like the rest of the world. The ban on these sites must be removed. We must guide the youth how to use these sites rather than ban them. If there was anything wrong with these sites, we would not have seen the senior officials using them.

Iranian citizen D: The government should not be using these sites, so long as it bans the people from using them. Equality will relieve the tension everywhere. Currently, we cannot use these sites, but the government can. This is wrong. Both the people and the government are entitled to use social media sites, but, unfortunately, this is not the case today.

Iranian Citizen E: The government must explain its ban on social media.

Iranian Citizen F: Senior officials can use social media sites, but we can't. Why is that? As an Iranian, I ask my government. If there is a ban, it must apply to us and them. I want to use Facebook. If there was something religiously wrong with these sites, the people would not have used them. These sites constitute a double-edged sword, but we are capable of making the right choice.

Iranian Citizen G: I hope these sites will be available to all levels of society, because the people want to know what's going on abroad.

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