PORT MORESBY - Pacific nation Papua New Guinea lost access to Facebook during a police test of “innovative technology” to regulate online content, officials say.

Meta’s Facebook and Messenger platforms remained inaccessible to users in the country on the afternoon of March 25, more than 24 hours after mysteriously going offline.

“At this stage, the exact cause of the access issue remains unclear,” the country’s information and technology authority said in a statement on March 24.

But the authority’s chief executive Kila Gulo-Vui said the team had become aware of a police media release on the same day about testing to regulate content on Facebook and other online platforms.

Mr Gulo-Vui said the team “was neither consulted nor involved in the testing”, despite police saying they had acted in partnership.

“While maintaining national security is a priority, the balance between safety and digital freedom must be carefully managed,” the authority said.

The country’s police minister, Peter Tsiamalili, had issued a media statement that praised “the successful testing of innovative technology designed to regulate the use of Facebook”.

The statement did not provide details of how police tested its “control systems” to regulate use of content on Facebook.

“We are not attempting to suppress free speech or restrict our citizens from expressing their viewpoints,” Mr Tsiamalili added.

“However, the unchecked proliferation of fake news, hate speech, pornography, child exploitation, and incitement to violence on platforms such as Facebook is unacceptable.”

Meta was unable to provide an immediate statement on the outage. AFP

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