PORT MORSEBY: Papua New Guinea police said Wednesday (Mar 26) they had unblocked Facebook after cutting off access in the Pacific nation because of a “counter-terrorism” operation.
Meta’s Facebook and Messenger platforms had been inaccessible since mysteriously going offline on Monday.
The police minister initially issued a statement praising a successful test of “innovative technology” to control misuse of Facebook content.
On Wednesday, the chief of police said Facebook had been taken down as the force grappled with criminals abusing the social network.
“A counter-terrorism operation is underway to apprehend two men connected to attempts to incite an act of terrorism,” Police Commissioner David Manning said in a statement.
Over the past hours, police had reduced the immediate threat to the community, he said, and “temporary restrictions on the Facebook social media platform have been removed”.
A number of offenders in a criminal network that “spreads far and wide” had used Facebook to anonymously threaten violence, incite conflict and encourage acts fomenting social unrest, Manning said in a statement.
Decisive action allowed police to identify the main offenders, break up the network and protect the community, he said.
Police were now seeking to identify other alleged co-offenders – both locals and expatriates – and target linked financial assets, Manning said.
Further details of the ongoing counter-terrorism operation would be released “at an appropriate time”, the police chief added.
“With Facebook restrictions removed, I remind people in our community who use social media to do so with caution.”
AFP has asked Meta for comment on the outage.
