3G, 4G Internet restored; social media still blocked

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 29

The high-speed 3G and 4G Internet was today restored by telecom companies in the Kashmir valley even as social media sites and instant messaging applications remained blocked.

At least two telecom companies restored the high-speed 3G and 4G Internet while other companies are likely to follow. The social media sites and instant messaging applications, however, have been blocked following a government order banning 22 such online communication sites.

The high-speed Internet services were suspended in the Valley on Monday last week following widespread protests by students at colleges across the region.

The government earlier this week ordered a ban on 22 social media sites, mobile phone messengers and video-uploading site in a first such online crackdown in the Valley.

It is for the first time that the state government has banned social media even as a blanket shutdown of Internet has remained a frequent feature in the region. The social media ban will remain effective for one month.

The ban was ordered in the backdrop of protests in the region which, the security officials believe, were partly fuelled by social media.

In recent months, demonstrators had live streamed protests which further sparked the anger following which the government had suspended Internet twice this month, including during the run-up to the parliamentary bypoll. The ban on social media was ordered at a time when the state government is grappling with recurring bouts of protests which appear to be spreading in scale and intensity.