TASHKENT -- Uzbek authorities have allowed access to social media platforms Twitter, VKontakte, and WeChat more than a year after they were blocked in the Central Asian nation.
The presidential agency of information and mass communications said on August 1 that talks on possible unblocking another social media application, TikTok, are under way with the company's representatives.
Uzbek officials blocked the social networks along with Skype in July 2021, citing a law on personal data that requires the local storage of data from users in Uzbekistan.
In November Telegram, Facebook, YouTube, and Odnoklassniki were also blocked on the same grounds.
The move caused an international and domestic outcry.
President Shavkat Mirziyoev publicly criticized the move at the time and sacked Information Technologies and Communications Minister Shuhrat Sodiqov, adviser Olimjon Umarov, and chief of the Uzkomnazorat media regulator, Golibsher Ziyaev.
However, many social networks have remained blocked despite the president's criticism.
