The Vietnamese government restricted access to Facebook Inc inside Vietnam for several days this week as part of a broader crackdown on human rights and political dissidents during a visit by President Barack Obama, two activist organisations said on Thursday. In March, after a deadly bombing in Turkey, an Ankara court ordered a ban on access to Facebook and Twitter. The social media site was also unavailable inside Vietnam ahead of parliamentary elections on Sunday as pro-democracy activists called for a boycott, members of the two groups said. Uganda's government blocked Facebook and Twitter Inc in February during presidential elections. The Facebook shutdown was part of a stepped-up campaign by the Vietnamese government to limit use of the social network for political protests, activists said in phone interviews.

Source: dna May 26, 2016 23:11 UTC