In what has been attributed to a reaction to the recent developments in Egypt, the Syrian regime has removed a five-year ban on social networking internet sites. These include Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and even Wikipedia in Arabic.
Internet-savvy Syrian users have been able to remain one step ahead of government censors, indirectly setting up Facebook groups and mailing lists to share information. Even so, they have not succeeded in organizing a popular revolt similar to that which has occurred in Egypt. For this reason, it is assumed, dictator President Bashar Assad fears he has little to lose by taking this step towards the populace.
Assad’s government has even been among the first to take advantage of the new situation, setting up dozens of support groups and sites in support of his regime. The sites support maintaining “security and stability.”
The Syrian ban on Facebook, Wikipedia and the like was in force for five years, and stricter enforcement measures were recently emplaced as a result of the events in Egypt.
Arab affairs expert Dalit HaLevi reports, based on an item in the Arabic-language A-Sharq Al-Awsat, that supporters of the regime asked Assad to remove the ban, in order to be able to use the Internet on behalf of the government.