The Syrian Opposition Is Disappearing From Facebook

[Commentary] Many Syrian opposition activist groups have not only community centers, but a media center page on Facebook, both of which are used to spread news of the revolution, document the dead, and distribute safety information to residents. In a country where foreign and independent Syrian journalists are barred, and the regime’s expansive network of citizen-spies makes public discussion of the revolution dangerous to this day, Facebook was one of the first refuges for Syria’s dissidents -- and now it has become one of their last.

Which is why the social network’s recent decisions to shut down dozens of opposition pages, including the Kafranbel Media Center that Hamidou administered in exile, have dealt a significant blow to peaceful activists who have grown reliant on Facebook for communication and uncensored -- if bloody and graphic -- reporting on the war’s atrocities. It’s only the latest chapter in Syria’s well-documented Facebook wars, but it threatens to be the final one for the non-violent voices who sparked the revolution to upend 40 years of oppressive Assad family rule.

[Pizzi is a freelance journalist based in New York]