Will Facebook set them free?

Posted Mar 9, 2010 by Laura Fiorilli

Updated Mar 9, 2010 at 11:11 AM

In a reversal of longstanding policy, the White House is encouraging the export of social networking and other Internet technologies to otherwise closed-off countries such as Cuba and Iran. It’s kind of a 21st-century Radio Free Europe, only decentralized. The idea is that associating with others online will make the citizens of oppressive regimes hungry for more freedom.

If you’ve just spent time sorting through a particularly inane heap of status updates, it can be hard to imagine Facebook serving such a noble cause. But remember the Twitter revolution in Iran? Totalitarian states find it essential to clamp down on the exchange of ideas. Free communication can break down walls, literally.

Countries like this tend to rank pretty low on measures of freedom and democracy. In a couple years, check back to see if any of them have updated their status to ‘free.’