Rabat, Morocco (TMT)- Moroccans of all wakes of life have been sharing massively since yesterday thousands of posts and images inciting their fellow citizens to unlike the official Facebook pages of Morocco’s Internet Service Providers, following those latter blocking yesterday all software that use the Voice over IP (VoIP) technology in the kingdom, even when accessing Internet through WIFI and ADSL broadband [Last month the ISP providers only blocked VoIP software when accessing internet through 3G and 4G] .
The social media move can be described as an unprecedented one in the Moroccan kingdom, in an unparalleled wave of discontent which saw a myriad of well-known Moroccan social medial inflencers fully subscribe to the initiative.
Moroccan social media activist Amine Raghib, well known for his popular and successful online educational show “Moudawanat Al Mouhtarif,” called on his Facebook page on all Moroccan to “unlike all official pages of Morocco’s Internet Service Providers, as a form of protest against their decision to block all software that use the VoIP technology, even when accessing Internet through WIFI and ADSL broadband.”
Other Moroccan social media influencers like Skizofrene, Marouane Lamharzi Alaoui, Mustapah Swinga and others also shared dozens of posts to initiate their fellow citizens to join the movement.
“Don’t underestimate the unlikes,” said Marouane Lamharzi Alaoui, the young man who initiated the move, in a Facebook post written in Moroccan Darija.
“You should know that they [Morocco’s Internet Service Providers] spend 2 to 3 Dirhams on one potential customer on social media,” Marouane added.
“In less than 24 hours, Maroc Telecom lost more than 123,380 followers. Inwi lost 101,062 ones, while Meditel lost 94282 ones,” Merouane said.
“This is just the first step. We will go further than that if they don’t back off,” the man stressed.
Mohamed Lahbichi, Elmustapha Elfakkak, Najib El Mokhtari, and Bilal Aljouhari, finalists participating in Morocco’s most notorious yearly Web ceremony, Maroc Web Awards, decided to pull out from “The Web Personality of the Year ceremony” as a form of protest against the blocking, given that one ISP provider is the official sponsor of the event.
It is worth reminding that many Moroccans shut down their phones last month for one day when Morocco’s ISPs initially blocked VoIP software through 3G and 4G technology.
The Moroccan Times.
