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Kuwait Says Social Networks Must Be Regulated To 'Safeguard The Cohesiveness Of Society'

from the i-had-no-idea-it-was-at-risk dept

Thu, May 3rd 2012 11:56pm — Mike Masnick

Apparently, an unregulated Twitter and Facebook might lead to society coming apart at the seams. At least that appears to be the somewhat ridiculous assertion of the Kuwaiti government as it prepares to regulate the usage of social networking sites, officially in order to "safeguard the cohesiveness of the population and society." Of course, that's silly. Social networking tools are used all the time to bring people together and to have discussions -- and also for less socially beneficial reasons. But the technology is just a tool for communication. By itself, it's neither good nor bad. Of course, given how those tools have been useful in larger protests and even regime changes around the Middle East over the past 18 months, one might guess that this new crackdown is a bit more about safeguarding the power of the existing government.

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Filed Under: crackdown, kuwait, social media
Companies: facebook, twitter

27 Comments

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Josef Anvil (profile), 4 May 2012 @ 1:23am

Seriously????
All I could do was laugh as I read the article. We are talking about a region of the world where you can be incarcerated for tweeting an insult about the royal family of another country or about the a religious minority.

Of course they need to regulate social networks. You can't repress your people properly if they are allowed to communicate freely with no fear of punishment.

LOL That's the type of society they want to safeguard, scared sheeple. Good luck with that.
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tummyman, 4 May 2012 @ 1:23am

yay!!! Iam the first one to comment!!
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wins, 4 May 2012 @ 2:14am

No one's
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wins, 4 May 2012 @ 2:14am

No one's
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Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2012 @ 3:18am

Re:
Nope.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2012 @ 3:28am

Well so much for keeping folks updated on our Bacon Appreciation Society.

(╯�□�）╯︵ ┻━┻
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Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2012 @ 4:09am

Re:
Not only are you not first, but you didn't even try to add to the topic at hand.

step 1: read the freakin' article, make a comment relevant to it

step 2: ???

Step 3: profit
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Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2012 @ 4:10am

Re: Re:
Or hey, make an attempt at humor.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2012 @ 4:20am

not much interest because...
It's Kuwait...haters don't care about Kuwait. Should have bent over backwards to include some keywords that would bring in more trolls and haters.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2012 @ 4:32am

I'm so glad...
...we kicked Iraq out in '91 so that this form of freedom could flourish. The Arabs are the amish of that part of the world, determined to marginalize themselves.
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abc gum, 4 May 2012 @ 4:40am

Re: I'm so glad...
The American Taliban would gladly institute similar draconian measures in neighborhoods near you. Aren't you just ecstatic?
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Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2012 @ 4:45am

same ol' same ol'. if you cant beat, stop it completely. if that looks like being to 'Iran-like a measure', then just regulate it. once this ruling gets into being, the others will follow a bit at a time until the ban is there anyway. like so many governments and rulers, these dont want people able to release information to the rest of the world or able to organise themselves.
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DannyB (profile), 4 May 2012 @ 5:26am

Shouldn't we regulate the Telephone, Printing Press?
After all, we need to protect the cohesiveness of society?

Think of the children!
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BeeAitch (profile), 4 May 2012 @ 5:57am

Re:
Fucking loser.
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BeeAitch (profile), 4 May 2012 @ 5:59am

Re: Seriously????
Agreed. Who do they think they are anyway, The USA?

Wait, what?
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ChrisB, 4 May 2012 @ 6:16am

Re: I'm so glad...
Some cultures aren't ready for democracy. Unless you have a strong dictator in place, they devolve into a bloody civil war (Iraq).

Don't be fooled. These Arab Spring movements are not about democracy. This theme was created by Western media. It is about a global recession, government debt, and youth unemployment. Governments can enforce obedience (with the army), or they can buy it (with government entitlement programs). When 20-somethings are out of work, both Dictatorships and Democracies (Greece) will fall.
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BentFranklin (profile), 4 May 2012 @ 6:56am

When they say cohesiveness of society, they mean cohesiveness of society to them.
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Jeffrey Nonken (profile), 4 May 2012 @ 9:06am

OMG!
It could lead to dancing!
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Lord Binky, 4 May 2012 @ 9:22am

I wouldn't be surprised if there were morality police and that social norms of interaction are applied to online intereactions so single men better not be adding females to their facebook, else those females will end up spider food in a dune somewhere...
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AzureSky (profile), 4 May 2012 @ 9:26am

if it was up to me
if i was in countrol of these sites, i would just regon block countries who want this shit link a page explaining how their gov dosnt want them to have access.
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Anonymous, 4 May 2012 @ 11:46am

Re: Re: I'm so glad...
What research made you come to that conclusion? Please refer me to relevant literature. Thanks.
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FM Hilton, 4 May 2012 @ 2:19pm

Cohesiveness-or repression
The Kuwaiti government (like the Saudi) is very much aware of the popular uprisings in the neighborhood around them.

They don't like the idea of their power being challenged, so it figures that they have to get rid of anything or control those things that might lead people to think for themselves.

If unchecked, it will lead to events such as happening in Syria-mass murder by the government to stomp out any kind of rebellion. It may yet come to that, anyway.

Absolute dictatorships have a nasty way of getting even with dissidents and other pesky people.
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Anonymoose Custard (profile), 4 May 2012 @ 2:28pm

They're not safeguarding cohesiveness of society
It's the cohesiveness of the status quo.

The inhibition of communication necessarily destabilizes societal cohesiveness. But preventing the proliferation of new communication maintains the existing level of cohesion.

If they cared about societal cohesiveness, they'd make free and uninhibited communication the new status quo.
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abc gum, 4 May 2012 @ 4:00pm

Re: Re: Re: I'm so glad...
Probably heard it on hate radio, regurgitates it like he's doing everyone a favor.
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Rhino, 5 May 2012 @ 11:48am

How ignorant... you cant just block it.. there is always away around it... it would be impossible to stop access to FB w/o disconnecting all access to the internet at large... Just a stupid idea to begin with...
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Mathew Carabello, 28 Jun 2012 @ 9:01am

Networks
Like to me, myspace connected us through music - Facebook is great for fam and friends, twitter to me is only good for following celebs, www.tumblr.com is great for making blogs, www.Formvote.com connects us through questions - they all have a purpose.
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Niasandi Mcdonalds, 26 Nov 2012 @ 7:16am

All I do was laugh at this tyoe of article where fb is making the world diverse they are thinking that it is harming people. All I can do is laugh ........
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