Iraqis appear to have been blocked from using Twitter and Facebook after the Islamist militant group ISIS, which now controls much of the country, thanked Allah for social networking.
Known for using extreme violence in its bid to create a medieval Islamic state on the borders of Iraq and Syria, ISIS is as prolific on social media as it is on the battlefield.
The hardline Sunni group has already captured the city of Mosul and is now marching for the capital, Baghdad, prompting Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to call on all men to arms, including Shiites. Shiites are a majority in Iraq, especially in areas south of Baghdad: ISIS considers them infidels.
A Kuwaiti news agency reported that the Iraqi government and the Ministry of Communications have blocked access to websites to hinder insurgent communications. Pornographic websites have also been blocked.
Connection to several Iraqi proxy servers is possible, but access to social networks is not, while other websites are accessible normally. However, we did not see the image below, which is circulating on Twitter. It appears that one of Iraq's largest ISPs has been ordered to block Twitter and Facebook.
On Tuesday, an ISIS fighter using the phrase "Soldiers of Iraq and the Levant" (meaning ISIS) wrote:
"Praise be to Allah, who gave Twitter to the mujahideen, so that they can share their joys and do not need to listen to the BBC, al-Arabia, Al-Jazeera."
The statistics company Akamai reported two days of internet problems in Iraq.
