Internet censorship in Iraq

Al-Qaeda in Iraq used social media channels to spread their extremist views and messages during the War on Terror.
Recently the Iraqi government blocked a number of social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, and Google, as well as Instagram and Whatsapp in a bid to halt the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS) a group formed in April 2013 and which grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq, from promoting their campaign of terror.
In an attempt to curb the extremist group from using social media to spread their message, the Iraqi government also requested a total block on the internet in a number of provinces. The Wall Street Journal recently reported “The Internet has been shut down in five provinces out of 19” where ISIS have made the most gains.

This decision appears to have been reversed, but ISPs have still been told to enforce bans on a number of websites. The Register recently spoke to Martin Frank CEO of IQNET, which sells internet connection services to ISPs in Iraq says “The internet is back in full capacity, with blocks removed on Facebook, Viber, Twitter and other websites. However, several sites are still blocked. These are generally news-related websites which have been critical of the government.” You can see a full list of sites blocked in Iraq here.

According to Martin Frank, a number of journalists have been on television channels showing Iraqis how to use virtual private networks (VPNs) which helps them bypass any government internet blocks.

A VPN is all you need to circumnavigate government internet censorship. When you select one of our HMA! Pro VPN servers, you are assigned a different IP address (your ISP in Iraq will be unable to detect that you are using it) and, therefore, you will be able to access any web page that your government may have blocked. It’s of utmost importance that journalists, bloggers and NGO’s are able to report the conflict currently taking place in Iraq. It’s also crucial that the Iraqi people be able to tell their stories, voice their opinions, concerns and their fears to the outside world through social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

For the time being, a number of social media sites are back up and running which is great news, but the question remains, for how long?

How to claim – terms of this offer

Iraqis who have new information about internet censorship in the country, will be rewarded with one month free HMA! Pro VPN. Free VPN will only be awarded if the information is published on our blog.
All existing active customers in Iraq who have an HMA! Pro VPN subscription will have one month free VPN added to their subscription, so long as the information is published on our blog.
Iraqis who have not signed up to HMA! will need to open account and one month HMA! Pro VPN will be added to their account, if their information is published on our blog.
This offer is open to those who are based in Iraq only. Our customer support will verify your location by IP address to ensure you are in the country.