Revolution in Moldova sparked by Twitter.

According the NYT, on Tuesday, more than 10,000 young Moldovans gathered out of nowhere to protest against Moldova’s Communist leadership. According to the report, the crowed ransacked government buildings and clashing with the police.

The riot of young people "reflected the deep generation gap that has developed in Moldova, and the protesters used their generation’s tools, gathering the crowd by enlisting text-messaging, Facebook and Twitter, the social messaging network."

The protesters created their own searchable tag on Twitter, rallying Moldovans to join and propelling events in this small former Soviet state onto a Twitter list of newly popular topics, so people around the world could keep track.

Apparently, the riot was quite strong as reports say "the seat of government had been badly battered and scores of people had been injured." Though, riot police did regain control of the president’s offices and Parliament the next day.

"After hundreds of firsthand accounts flooded onto the Internet via Twitter, Internet service in Chisinau, the capital, was abruptly cut off"

“Moldova is like a sealed jar, and youth want more access to Europe,” he said. “Everyone knows that Moldova is the smallest, poorest and the most disgraceful country. And youth are talking about how they want freedom, Europe and a different life.” Young people have increasingly used the Internet to mobilize politically; cellphones and text messages helped swell protests in Ukraine in 2004, and in Belarus in 2006.

Iran Unblocks Facebook and YouTube

Iran blocked the popular social networking site, Facebook in 2006, saying it was "illegal." They also blocked YouTube. But in February, Tehran unblocked both sites. Since then, the site’s Iranian membership has been growing making Facebook is the 10th most popular website in Iran.

28 year-old Hashemi, a member of Iran’s largest pro-reform student group, Daftar Tahkim Vahdat, which is a regular target of pressure from the state, says this has opened new avenues for discussion of human rights and other political passions.

"Given the fact that I’m a political and social activist, I’m also attracted to human rights issues when I’m on Facebook," Hashemi says. "I join causes that support human rights and democracy, or those that protest against human rights violations in Iran."

Iran is known for banning dissenting media.The international media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, states that Iran has the highest number of journalists in jail in the entire Middle East.

"Iranian officials have offered no explanation for why they decided to restore access to Facebook -- or why they moved to block it in the first place. Christophe Ginisty is the president of the French group Internet Without Borders, which promotes freedom of expression online. He says some governments with a history of Internet censorship choose to open some sites not to improve their image, but to gain a surreptitious toehold in an online community frequented by political opponents and activists. "During election periods, as in the case of Iran, it allows the government to give the impression that it is offering more freedom," Ginisty says. "But that’s absolutely not what’s happening, because the first thing that happens following an opening is that filters and controls are established. It means that they reopen Facebook when they have the possibility to put people in place who can control it. Hadi Nili is a Tehran-based journalist who specializes in social and information technology issues. The Iranian government may have opted to unblock Facebook as a way to better monitor the actions of journalists, who have flocked to Facebook in droves. Nili also speculates that the unblocking of Facebook and YouTube could be a way for the government to win the support of young voters ahead of presidential elections in June."

I found out about this via a EurasiaNet. org article. It has not been reported by PressTV. I think it is safe to say that this won't be a permanent thing.