GOT FRIENDS?: FACEBOOK POPULAR, DESPITE DOMESTIC

S E C R E T TUNIS 000099

SIPDIS

NEA/PPD; NEA/MAG (NARDI/STEWART); DRL (JOHNSTONE/KLARMAN)
LONDON AND PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KDEM KPAO TS
SUBJECT: GOT FRIENDS?: FACEBOOK POPULAR, DESPITE DOMESTIC
SMEAR CAMPAIGN

REF: A. 08 SECTO 08

B. 08 TUNIS 926

C. 08 TUNIS 615

D. 08 TUNIS 580

E. 08 TUNIS 408

Classified By: Ambassador Robert F. Godec for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

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Summary
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1. (S) As one of the few social networking sites where
Tunisians, especially Tunisian youth, can publicly gather and
discuss issues ranging from sports to politics, Facebook has
become extremely popular. Tunisian users grew by about
70,000 to 294,242 in the past month. Some people use the
site to engage in a frank political discussion and exchange
of ideas that is singular for a public forum in Tunisia. The
GOT blocked the site briefly in 2008, causing a public
outcry. President Ben Ali told then-Secretary Rice in
September 2008 that he only discovered the site was blocked
when his sixteen-year old daughter complained and immediately
ordered the ban lifted. Recently, however, there have been
articles in the government-controlled press that attempt to
discredit the site, suggesting that some in the GOT hope to
discourage visits and perhaps change the president's mind.
End Summary.

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Something for Everyone
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2. (C) Facebook fills an important need that Tunisians lack
elsewhere: a public place to "meet" and discuss topics
freely. Media outlets in Tunisia shy away from exploring
topics relevant to today's youth such as unemployment,
immigration, and cost of living. Journalists have told
EmbOffs that discussion of domestic social issues, especially
if it might remotely imply the government is lacking in some
regard, is off limits. Free speech in schools and university
campuses is likewise strictly controlled; plainclothes police
maintain a constant presence on campus and the national
student union is harassed. In a country where expression is
monitored and controlled, Facebook can also provide a degree
of anonymity and the freedom that goes with it. Though
access to the internet in Tunisia is controlled (Ref D),
nothing prevents Facebook users from using an alias online,
or not posting photos. According to an online search, on
February 19 there were 294,242 Tunisian users on Facebook, up
from 223,955 on January 6. Of those, roughly 76 percent are
between the ages of 18 and 34. The degree of Facebook user's
enthusiasm is also noteworthy. Several Embassy contacts,
including many middle-aged Tunisians, have told EmbOffs they
spend hours everyday on Facebook.


3. (C) Most Tunisian Facebook groups are not political, for
example "Clubbing in Tunisia" with 4,393 members,
"Evanescence Fans Tunisia" with 250 members, or the two
groups dedicated to bringing Starbucks to Tunisia. Several
sizable groups, however, are political such as "I Have a
Dream: a Democratic Tunisia" (2,305 members),"Alliance of
Tunisian Facebook Groups Against Censorship" (534 members),
"Stop Torture in Tunisia" (1,233 members),and "Corruption in
Tunisia" (625 members). Another group, "Making Fun of the
Cult of Number 7 in Tunisia" (1,666 members),pokes fun at
the GOT's tendency to name everything from roads to the
official television station after the number seven. (Note:
President Ben Ali first came to power in a constitutional
coup on November 7th, 1987). For others, it's an informal
way to keep in touch with colleagues, such as the "Tunisian
Pharmacists, Dentists, and Doctors" group (723 members).


4. (C) Civil society activists have also embraced Facebook.
Though human rights lawyer Mohamed Abbou has not been
allowed to leave the country since his release from prison
(Note: He was arrested in 2005 for defaming the judicial
system and assault, but paroled in 2007),he has over 500
friends from several different countries on Facebook. For
opposition parties and human rights activists, Facebook is a
useful tool as their personal websites or blogs are
vulnerable to destruction by hackers. (Note: On February 2
Global Voice Online listed sixteen websites or blogs of
prominent Tunisian activists that were hacked between July 6,
2007 and November 5, 2008). Facebook has also become
something of a news source for Tunisians. Long before news
of unemployment protests in the southwestern mining regions
near Gafsa was reported in the mainstream press (Ref C),
several Facebook groups were formed to support the

demonstrators online. One site in support of the protestors
even includes comprehensive electronic files providing
background information. The groups also contain information
that was never reported via official media outlets, such
links to videos and photos of the demonstrations. After the
leader of the Gafsa protests Adnan Hajji was sentenced to ten
years and one month in prison (the sentence was reduced to
eight years on appeal),Facebook users posted many comments
condemning the sentence.

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Beware of Facebook
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5. (S) Though torture, censorship, and corruption are hot
topics online, Tunisia lacks forums in the real world with
corresponding debates. Newspapers that touch on sensitive
topics such as these may experience sudden distribution
problems or be taken off the shelves outright (Ref E). Given
this, it is interesting that the GOT allows online the type
of conversations it prohibits in print, radio, television.
From August 18 to September 3, 2008 Facebook was temporarily
blocked (Ref B),but the censorship provoked a public outcry.
The major French language daily Le Temps went so far as to
print messages from its readers protesting the censorship of
Facebook. In September 2008, President Ben Ali told
then-Secretary Rice that he first learned that public access
to the site had been blocked when his teenage daughter
complained, and immediately gave instructions that site be
allowed (Ref A).


6. (C) Though the GOT has not attempted to block Facebook
since mid-2008, there has been a smear campaign against the
site in the government-controlled press. The most recent
attack occurred on January 27 when the private Arabic-weekly
al-Hadath (which is considered the mouthpiece of the Ministry
of the Interior) published an article reporting that 160,000
Tunisians have fallen into the "trap" of Facebook. The
article entitled, "Sex, Drugs, Violence, Terrorism, and
Spying: Is Facebook Innocent?" asks its readers, "Do you want
your personal secrets to go to American intelligence
agencies?" The article claims that drug dealers use Facebook
to find clients, and laments that police are unable to
monitor the site to prevent networking among "sexually
abnormal people" and prostitution. In addition, the paper
opined that Facebook is used by extremists who incite hatred.
It cautioned its readers that the internet has been used by
terrorists to commit crimes all over the world, and warned
parents to beware of Facebook because the social networking
website,s objective "is not freedom of opinion and free
circulation of information as they (presumably Americans)
pretend." The ruling Democratic Constitutional Rally's
Secretary General Mohamed Ghariani told a group in Sousse
that, "we need to protect public opinion from negative
destructive ideas spread by modern technology."

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Comment
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7. (C/NF) Facebook is a useful indicator of public opinion
(albeit only those with internet access),as Tunisia lacks a
free press or reliable polls. The site is growing
exponentially, and its popularity is likely to continue to
increase, particularly but not exclusively among Tunisian
youth. There has been speculation that some in the GOT might
eventually use the accusations in the press against Facebook,
namely that it promotes prostitution and extremism, to
justify shutting down the site in the future. The GOT blocks
many other websites that it considers problematic, e.g.,
YouTube. Overcoming Ben Ali,s previous direct order
regarding Facebook, however, would be difficult. The GOT
might be better off asking itself not, "How to contain
Facebook?" but rather, "How to address the concerns that
people have raised?" End Comment.
Godec