Social media can be used for the good, the bad and the ugly. News report from Algeria reveals the bad side of social media as the government in the North African country has temporarily blocked Facebook and Twitter as well as 3G services after an examination intended to qualify successful candidates for higher education was leaked on online. Consequently, more than 555,000 Algerian students will retake their exams.
Before the decision to temporarily suspend social media, the government had previously arrested some individuals working with the national education offices and printers when they investigated how 2016 high school exam papers were got on social media.
According to reports, the decision to block social media was taken to protect students from accessing “bogus questions on these networks”.
