YouTube and Facebook have become inaccessible via many Internet service providers in Tajikistan.
Internet users across the country on August 25 said they had been able to open the websites only via proxies.
Asomuddin Atoev, the chairman of Tajikistan's Association of Internet Service Providers, told RFE/RL that access to the sites was being blocked by some Internet service providers based on an order by the State Communications Service.
A source at Tajikistan's State Communication Service confirmed to RFE/RL that the Internet providers were instructed to limit the two websites' accessibility. No reasons were provided.
Tajik authorities have long been criticized for randomly blocking Google services, YouTube, Facebook, and other popular social networks.
Such government action has almost always coincided with online activities of opposition groups or events tied to social and political events in the Central Asian nation.
