Haaretz:
17 million Iranians have a Facebook account, despite heavy restrictions and filtering imposed by the government.
An Iranian ayatollah has said that the social networking service Facebook was un-Islamic and being a member of it a sin, the ISNA news agency reported Saturday.
In Iran, it is common for senior clerics to be asked about their stance on certain social issues and whether these issues are compatible with Islamic norms.
Their answers are regarded as a form of decree.
ISNA on Saturday broadcast coverage of the response of Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi-Golpaygani, a senior cleric, to the question about Facebook and Iranian membership in the social networking service.
“Basically, going to any website which propagates immoralities and could weaken the religious belief is un-Islamic and not allowed, and membership in it is therefore haram (a sin),” the ayatollah replied.
No tightly controlling culture can exist when free communication and free access to the news is allowed. This is why the left works so hard to shut down all sources of the news they don’t control, I can remember when almost all of the news media in the west was controlled by the left. Talk radio and the net broke that monopoly a fact the left continues to regret.