Facebook is back in Syria and the White House was delighted. FRANCE 24 Observers have confirmed that this was the subject of many tweets since Tuesday afternoon after two and a half years of censorship, the Syrians can again log on to Facebook. An adviser to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has even split congratulations to Damascus for this gesture.
But the star network social web, often cited for his alleged role in important events in Tunisia and Egypt, is not the only one to be available again in Syria.YouTube, the online video platform owned by Google, has also resurfaced after many years of enforced absence on the Web Syrian.
Two symbolic gestures that the Syrians were discovered by themselves. Authorities have not actually announced officially the lifting of censorship. "It's an important gesture, but not sufficient for a variety of other sites, less known, continue to be inaccessible," said Bassam al-Kadi, a FRANCE 24 Observer based in Damascus and site manager Syrian Women Observatory .
This is particularly the case for Elaph, the largest online newspaper in the Arab world, or Asharq al-Awsat, one of the most renowned Arabic dailies.The Syrian authorities are not ready to let their people have unlimited access to the global network. Why then this leniency toward Facebook and YouTube?
Less censorship for more control
Several commentators believe that the authorities' decision to Damascene Facebook and YouTube is a gesture of appeasement to the people. It would be better safe than sorry and have reasoned President Bashar el-Assad. "For sure this decision is a direct consequence of events in Egypt and Tunisia", recognizes Nourane Kuli, another Syrian Observer for FRANCE 24.
However, the explanation does not seem satisfactory."In my opinion, the main reasons are that the authorities can better control what is going on these sites and they also realized that censorship was not necessarily effective," said Bassam al-Kadi. Indeed, part of the population - as in Egypt and Tunisia - were already using proven methods to circumvent censorship (proxy, virtual networks, etc.)..
Still, making Facebook accessible to all is not without risk to the Syrian regime, but it is a risk that seems perfectly calculated and controlled. "The situation here is very different from Egypt or Tunisia.The use of the Internet is not the same, there is no real activists on social networks which makes sites like Facebook less useful, "concludes Bassam al-Kadi.
