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Syria Restores Access to Facebook and YouTube

The Syrian government began allowing its citizens Wednesday to openly use Facebook and YouTube, three years after blocking access to Facebook and other sites as part of a crackdown on political activism. Human rights advocates greeted the news guardedly, warning that the government might have lifted the ban to more closely monitor people and activity on social networking sites.

The move comes just weeks after human rights activists in Egypt used Facebook and other social media tools to help mobilize tens of thousands of people for antigovernment protests. Activists in Tunisia used the Internet in December and January to help amass support for the protests and revolt that toppled the government of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

After the mass demonstrations began in Egypt, opposition groups in Syria created a Facebook page called the Syrian Revolution and started a Twitter campaign calling on people to join “day of rage” rallies last week against President Bashar Assad. But the effort, which has generated more than 16,000 Facebook members, did not produce the street protesters that organizers had hoped for.

Despite the ban, many Syrians had been able to use Facebook and other aspects of the Web restricted by the government through proxy servers that allowed people to circumvent the Syrian government’s firewall, which also blocks Wikipedia, Amazon, Blogspot and Israeli newspapers, among other sites.

Posts on the wall on Wednesday reflected a variety of opinions, including reminders for people to be careful about what they post to bold proclamations that the page would help spur change. “We’re going to launch a fearless attack,” one user wrote on the Syrian Revolution Facebook page wall. “Link to us on all pages so that all Syrians can see this. Think. Initiate. Decide, do and have faith in God.”

Syria’s decision was welcomed by officials from the State Department with a note of caution, given the country’s restrictions on the freedom of speech and freedom to assemble.

“We welcome any positive steps taken to create a more open Internet, but absent the freedoms of expression and association, citizens should understand the risks,” said Alec J. Ross, senior adviser for innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who helped organize a delegation of business leaders from technology companies to meet with Mr. Assad in Syria last year. In those meetings, the business leaders said that opening the Web would be important to drive innovation.

Susannah Vila, director of content and outreach for Movements.org, said she believed that the government in Syria, in releasing controls on the Internet, was trying to make it appear as if it were making democratic concessions after the tumult in Egypt and Tunisia.

“While access to social media sites presents an opportunity for Syrians to better mobilize one another, it also makes it easier for the government to identify activists and quash protests,” said Ms. Vila, of the New York City-based organization that began in 2008 with the mission to help support advocates and activists using technology. Ms. Vila said there was growing concern that the government of Sudan was closely monitoring Facebook users there after lifting restrictions.

Abdulsalam Haykal, a leading Syrian technology entrepreneur, praised the Syrian government’s decision as a reflection of a commitment to build confidence with the country’s young people. “The power of social media is an important tool for increasing participation, especially by engaging young people,” he said.

Under Facebook’s terms of service, users are required to use their real identities and not hide behind false or anonymous accounts, a violation that can lead to Facebook’s closing an account.

Debbie Frost, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said Wednesday that the company was not considering changing or re-examining its terms of service in those countries where some users were concerned about revealing their full identity for security reasons.

“Facebook has always been based on a real-name culture,” she said. “This leads to greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment for our users. It’s a violation of our policies to use a fake name or operate under a false identity.” Ms. Frost said the company provided multiple options for users to communicate privately through groups and to read updates on a Facebook page without having to sign up for it.

Ms. Frost said that the company had always seen some traffic for Syria, but not the number of Facebook users typical in a country, like Syria, with high Internet usage. She said the company did not see significant changes in traffic Wednesday. Syrian technology companies reported that it could take hours or days for people to get full access.

A spokesperson for YouTube declined to comment on the lifting of the ban, but pointed to Google’s Transparency report, which shows a jump in traffic to YouTube.com from Syria.

According to DP-News.com, a pro-government Syrian Web site, there are about 200,000 Syrians currently using Facebook.

A correction was made on 
Feb. 17, 2011

An article last Thursday about the Syrian government’s relaxation of curbs on domestic access to Facebook and YouTube misstated the name of a pro-government Syrian Web site that said about 200,000 Syrians use Facebook. It is DP-News.com.

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A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Syria Restores Access to Facebook and YouTube, Raising Fears of Monitoring Users. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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