PNG probes loss of Facebook during police cyber test

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Pacific nation Papua New Guinea opened an investigation Tuesday after losing access to Facebook during a police test of "innovative technology" to regulate online content.

Meta's Facebook and Messenger platforms remained inaccessible to users in the country more than 24 hours after mysteriously going offline on Monday.

The government said it had instructed the country's technology regulator to investigate the "root cause of unsatisfactory access to Facebook during this period".

Meta had indicated there was no outage at its end in the past 48 hours, the communications minister Timothy Masiu, said in a statement.

Earlier, the information and technology regulator said the cause of the outage was "unclear".

But the authority's chief executive, Kila Gulo-Vui, said his body had become aware of a police media release on Monday lauding a "successful" test to regulate content on Facebook and other online platforms.

Gulo-Vui said his body "was neither consulted nor involved in the testing", despite police saying they had acted in partnership.

"While maintaining national security is a priority, the balance between safety and digital freedom must be carefully managed," the authority said.

The country's police minister, Peter Tsiamalili, had issued a media statement that praised "the successful testing of innovative technology designed to regulate the use of Facebook".

The statement did not provide details of how police tested the "control systems" to regulate use of content on Facebook.

"We are not attempting to suppress free speech or restrict our citizens from expressing their viewpoints," Tsiamalili added.

"However, the unchecked proliferation of fake news, hate speech, pornography, child exploitation, and incitement to violence on platforms such as Facebook is unacceptable."

Meta said it was unable to provide an immediate comment on the outage.