Communist regimes and dictators really do not like Facebook. We’ve written about China blocking Facebook on an ongoing basis, and now Vietnam is possibly blocking the site as well. According to Ben Stockton of AP, “Over the last week, access to Facebook has been intermittent in the country, whose government tightly controls the flow of information.” We’ve seen access to Facebook limited before but this is the first time we’ve heard of issues in Vietnam.
While we’ve reached out to Facebook, we’ve yet to hear back from the company. Vietnam currently has approximately 1 million users according to Facebook’s own advertising estimates. The primary source of concerns about Facebook being shut down, is “an unauthenticated document circulating on the internet—which says it was issued by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security”. The document, “instructs Internet service providers to block Facebook”.
While Facebook has been seen by some as a tool for spreading democracy around the world, the biggest hurdle to doing so is clearly regimes who decide to block the site all together. Whether it’s Iran, Vietnam, China, or other countries, censoring the internet is critical to the survival of oppressive regimes. For the time being we’ll have to wait and see how this story evolves, but it appears that Facebook may have to deal with yet another country blocking access to the rapidly expanding site.
Update
Facebook has provided us with the following statement: “We have seen media reports that users in Vietnam are having problems accessing Facebook. We would be very disappointed if users in any country were to have difficulties accessing Facebook.” In other words, they aren’t confirming or denying issues but they pointed us to the following site which reports on websites that are inaccessible. However the level of inaccessibility appears to be relatively low. We’re reaching out to a few other people to see if we can get any more information.






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Here’s my FAQ on the Vietnam block of Facebook
http://huyzing.com/2009/11/17/faq-on-vietnam-block-of-facebook/
Comment by Huy Zing — November 17, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
I’m currently living in Saigon, Vietnam and can attest to the fact that Facebook is indeed being blocked. I’ve spoken with several friends that use different ISP’s and they are also blocked.
I am still able to access FB via a proxy server or VPN, but direct access is blocked.
Best Regards,
Antony in VN
Comment by Antony in VN — November 17, 2009 @ 6:18 pm
I have been living in Vietnam for 7 years. On November 11th Facebook was blocked without prior notice. This is fact, I live here. I have also tried to access it from my office. In their "constitution" the Vietnamese are proud to have put in "freedom of the press, religion, and speech" however, in the last 7 years I have seen all of the aforementioned oppressed.
Comment by bob — November 17, 2009 @ 9:05 pm
BLOCKED in Vietnam as of Nov 16th…………
Comment by Gill — November 17, 2009 @ 9:34 pm
I am responding to the article on Viet Nam blocking Facebook. I am an overseas Viet Kieu who has been living in Viet Nam for the past 4 years. For the past month there were rumors of the government shutting down Facebook. Those rumors have actually become real. I just got back from holiday – Australia, I had no problem accessing the site. I am now back in Viet Nam as of yesterday and I am not able to log onto the site.
Please help us get the site back , this is my only connector to all my friends from around the world….
Comment by Cindy — November 17, 2009 @ 10:01 pm
I Have in HCM city now, i cannot log in Facebook at all this morning and it turns out the rumour is truth.
Everytime i try to go into FaceBook site, it will direct me back to any site i had visited previously.
There you go, the big brothers are still here. THis annoyance will surely irritate a lot of young users. Ciao
Comment by DAVID — November 18, 2009 @ 1:33 am
Yes, indeed, Facebook is blocked. It's been blocked in vietnam sice the 16th November. I have gotten around the restriction by using a custom DNS server (openDNS). To protest against the blockage, I have uploaded a proxy to my german server specifically for accessing Facebook.
I will be so happy to get back to germany, my home country, next year. Democraty is just less painful.
Comment by Patrick Elsen — November 18, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
If you are good at computing, change the DNS servers in your router to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.222.220
Like this you will be able to access Facebook just like you used to. It worked for me, i hope it'll work for the others, too.
The reason it works is that the block of Facebook does not block Facebook itself, but only the Website. For your computer to open a website, it needs the website's IP, which it would normally get from your DNS server. Now, the vietnamese DNS server has no entry for facebook, making it look like facebook.com doesn't exist. The IPs i mentioned earlier are IPs of a public DNS sevrer, openDNS, which has entrys for Facebook, and by using it you will be able to access Facebook.
Hope i could help
Comment by Patrick Elsen — November 18, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
facebook has ben blocked in Da Nang Vietnam since 12th November. I am an expat living here for a long time, I can tell you its BLOCKED. I changed the DNS yesterday and was able to access it fine. Tonight using the new DNS, i can still not access it.
Comment by been blocked — November 19, 2009 @ 4:09 am
Still works fine for me. As far as I know Facebook still hasn't been unbanned, so this will probably be a permanent ban.
Btw "an unauthenticated document circulating on the internet—which says it was issued by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security" was referring to is located on: http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Vietnamese_order_to_blo...
Comment by Patrick Elsen — November 20, 2009 @ 12:29 am
Officials: Vietnam not blocking Facebook
"HANOI, Vietnam, Nov. 21 (UPI) — Officials in Vietnam said the country's government is not actively blocking the social networking Web site Facebook despite scores of connectivity complaints"
Source: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/11/21/Officia...
Comment by Tuan Nguyen — November 21, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
y r u guys blocking facebook u8 no alot of people need to use this website so they can keep in touch with there friends overseas u guys r seriously retarted
Comment by cel — November 22, 2009 @ 2:21 am
Reporting from Hanoi. Yes, it has been blocked. Unable to access it from desktops. However, still accessible from your PDAs.
Comment by Shine — November 23, 2009 @ 12:52 am
I have made a tutorial on how to un-block facebook if you live in vietnam – it might also work in other countries, but I only know for sure it works in vietnam. Here's the link: http://blackbyte.homelinux.org/facebook
Comment by Patrick Elsen — November 23, 2009 @ 3:25 am
Ive been travelling around Vietnam and now Lao and it seems everywhere I go, I can connect for 15 seconds before its blocked completely! From south Vietnam to up North and even in Lao!!! But I found a way to bypass this so it aint that bad. Google it and youll find it to!
Comment by xx — November 26, 2009 @ 10:41 pm
I live in Saigon and have not been able to access for nearly a month, the post by Patrick Elsen (copy below) worked instantly for me, thanks for the tip Patrick!
Patrick Elsen – November 18th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
If you are good at computing, change the DNS servers in your router to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.222.220
Like this you will be able to access Facebook just like you used to. It worked for me, i hope it'll work for the others, too.
The reason it works is that the block of Facebook does not block Facebook itself, but only the Website. For your computer to open a website, it needs the website's IP, which it would normally get from your DNS server. Now, the vietnamese DNS server has no entry for facebook, making it look like facebook.com doesn't exist. The IPs i mentioned earlier are IPs of a public DNS sevrer, openDNS, which has entrys for Facebook, and by using it you will be able to access Facebook.
Hope i could help
Comment by Ashley — December 1, 2009 @ 5:54 am
Hi guys some tip how to get through face book while yours on Vietnam.
The first change the DNS servers in your router to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.222.220
How to Change it follow step as the below.
1. Select Control Panel from the Start menu.
2. Click Network Connections from the Control Panel choices.
3. Choose your connection from the Network Connections window.
4. Click Properties button.
5. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties.
6. Click the radio button Use the following DNS server addresses and type in OpenDNS addresses in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields.
Have fun
Comment by YO — December 26, 2009 @ 6:43 am
I am in Au but im in VN Because i'm at hoilidays with my grand parents my brother wanted to accese facebookk it didn't work he tried searching for proxy website and it worked but yeah it looked ugly tough
Comment by iPockyx33 — December 29, 2009 @ 1:53 am
I am with the countries government run ISP and I have always had access but it has been slow. Until today and I can't access it at all. I've been here 6 years and this country becomes more and more of a joke every year.
Comment by Bee — March 10, 2010 @ 8:22 pm
You can use this linke if it doesnt work http://www.lite.facebook.com
Comment by j — March 23, 2010 @ 1:01 am
I hate Vietnam. There's a joke each year and the government blocked facebook!!!
Comment by Ju Ha — April 6, 2010 @ 3:05 am
Changing the DNS works everytime, thanks Patrick Elson.
Comment by Dan Laurens — April 16, 2010 @ 7:57 pm
Hi everyone…My friend lives in Hochimen city vietnam. She has been living for 3 weeks and she is very shocking when she was un able to acces the Facebook. She is expecting the facebook because she very bored. can you help heres her email add. nelcybuladaco@yahoo.com. thnx very much
Comment by nelcy — April 22, 2010 @ 11:05 pm
Ican't access it right now.D:-obviously in Vietnam- ._.
Comment by Michelle — May 30, 2010 @ 12:32 pm
I living in vietnam for almost 3 years and so upset if FB really block by government here ,because i cannot keep in touch so well with all my homeland and oversea friends ,currently i using my cell phone log in FB that is no problem to me but for notebook always been blocked and i did change my DNS for my desktop this really work but some times still cannot access ,i wish the goverment here will not block the FB .
Change DNS is the way to access ! go to open DNS website and register on the Free user then follow the instruction .
http://www.opendns.com/
Comment by June Yeoh — July 5, 2010 @ 9:40 pm
Its true until now the facebook is not working here in Saigon. They already blocked also the DNS server that we used before. I can only access k-tunnel but a friend of mine told me who lives just across me was not able to open as well the k-tunnel. This is really crazy.
Comment by mariecris — July 6, 2010 @ 6:25 pm
one more thing about the http://www.lite.facebook.com you can't do anything else except talk to your frinds
Comment by Anthony — July 11, 2010 @ 9:29 pm
Blocked again overnight….. even using OpenDNS settings doesn't work – worked fine until yesterday morning. The URL comes up ok with no errors on the page but just a totally blank page. A friend who lives on the other side of town with a different ISP says everything ok there…for now. I get no error saying the server can't be found, so the content must be being stripped out along the way.
This is affecting desktop, laptop and smartphone (with mobile FB installed) The smartphone logs on ok but just displays the icons at the top but again with no content.
If I ping facebook I get a reply so the problem isn't there.
Comment by Graham — July 16, 2010 @ 6:22 pm
Facebook is being blocked here. I am on holiday in Saigon (dist 1) and though I can access through the hotel Wifi on my iphone, I cannot access it on my laptop.
Checked with others here and the website comes up. Safari can’t open the page &ldquo ;http://www.facebook.com/” because Safari can’t find the server &ldquo ;www.facebook.com”.
Cheers.
Comment by Jhonny Shore — August 6, 2010 @ 10:48 pm
thanks for the DNS tip! I had it, I had to erase it to have access in some local places, but I recover it because of this comments.
Comment by Paola — August 7, 2010 @ 10:07 am
those routers (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.222.220) work..thanks a lot!!!!
Comment by film puff — August 30, 2010 @ 6:24 pm
We are experiencing Facebook blockage since arriving in Hanoi almost one week ago. Viva la revolucion!
Comment by Henry Domzalski — September 8, 2010 @ 12:51 am
It is now 2 days 1 cannot access lite.facebook.com in Ho Chi Minh City. I wonder how VN want's to become a leading country in Softwaredevelopment blocking one of the webs top sites.
Comment by Anh Toan — September 21, 2010 @ 10:57 am
Whether an application is blocked or not, self-control comes from within
Ive been using http://bit.ly/bJwmma .
It uses a better method than blocking social media sites because it only monitors sites like Facebook during production hours. People/Employees still have the option to use it for a breather or during breaks really . Sometimes they use it for work too in helping reach decisions. For me its really unnecessary to block Facebook.
Comment by Nicollepetersen — September 26, 2010 @ 4:47 am
try http://www.lisp4.facebook.com it works sometimes
Comment by Tammy — January 29, 2011 @ 12:35 am
That is so not true. They are blocking facebook.
Comment by nono — March 7, 2011 @ 5:50 am
Sad case of affairs, shutting out your people from the international stage.
Comment by Dic — March 11, 2011 @ 9:50 pm
hi.. i have a MAC.. i tried to put it in the DNS.. but its not working.. i dont know why… can you please help me,, thank you
Comment by Dlam — July 19, 2011 @ 3:12 am
Ruling political party in India is trying to ban facebook in india and Mark Zuckerberg has given up and bent down in front of indian political parties. He knows that he can't afford to loose traffic from India. I'm sure in this case Mark Zuckerberg is not Ok at all.
Comment by Neha SINGH — December 28, 2011 @ 2:17 am