Facebook & Twitter Both Blocked in Egypt [Updated]

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As security forces in Egypt attempted to break up protests on the street using water cannons and tear gas Wednesday morning, it appears that Egypt also took further efforts to quell opposition online. The government has now apparently blocked Facebook, in addition to Twitter.

Several reports on Tuesday indicated that Twitter had been blocked in order to prevent videos, photos and other details from the protests from being broadcast. Twitter confirmed Tuesday evening that the site had been blocked in Egypt starting at about 8 a.m. PST.

Now, many are reporting on Twitter, and in e-mails sent to Mashable, that Facebook is also blocked throughout the country. Facebook has consistently been reported to be blocked since Wednesday morning, according to HerdictWeb, a site by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University that crowdsources reports of inaccessible websites.

Facebook, if it is blocked, is an unsurprising target for censorship. Anti-government activists used the social network to plan the protests, gathering the support of 90,000 users who agreed to attend the event.

We've reached out to Facebook for comment, and we'll update this post with more news once we receive a response.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto,