Posted by By Samad Ali
Source:
February 10, 2010
As soon as news of broke, Twitter was awash with outrage about Iranian censorship, but also with jokes about whether Google’s had prompted the decision.
Iranian protesters demonstrate in front of the Italian Embassy in Tehran Tuesday, as police officers stand guard. Associated Press
“Honestly, I didn’t think Buzz was *that* bad,” in an update, a quip echoed in dozens of tweets linked to reports of the ban. “Iran hates Google Buzz so much it shuts down Gmail,” , who added the hashtag “#halfkidding.”
“Did their buzz additions not work for them either?” another Twitterer, , asked. “It’s because Ahmedinejad hates Google Buzz,” .
Others, including , wondered whether Iran’s national email service — which a government agency said it was rolling out — will have a “buzz” component of its own.
“Forget Gmail and Google Buzz, I want in on Imail and Iran Buzz,” .
Google launched its new Buzz social feature Tuesday to help Gmail users share updates with their friends.
On Wednesday, Iranians reported widespread service disruptions to Internet and text-messaging services. It wasn’t clear what effect the order had on Google’s email services in Iran.
The Internet and other social-media outlets have played an important role in media coverage of the tumultuous events following last summer’s Iranian election. Protesters as well as to share updates from Iran, and attempted to hide their moves from Iran’s censors through and .