I don't know anything about PNG but it seems to me that they are not studying anything.
>Analysts will explore how fake news and pornography spreads, and assess whether country needs its own version of the platform
They are banning facebook, because it probably became a nuisance for the government. PNG ranks in the 136th place out of 176 countries Corruption Perception Index. This wikipedia article sheds more light on the issue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Papua_New_Guinea
Yes, PNG is corrupt, but it’s not like residents don’t know it. PNG is still somewhat tribal, and a platform like Facebook that makes it easy to demonize the other does not help anyone.
Source: Used to travel to PNG on business and still have former coworkers that still do. My favorite news story about PNG corruption was that a group of merchants were assaulted and robbed in the lobby(!) of a police station.
PNG has some form when it comes to closing down online speech. One blogger found himself under court injunction for referring to a government official named Mr. Gamato as Mr. Tomato:
>> The Electoral Commission obtained a court order restraining well-known blogger Martyn Namorong from tweeting or sharing allegedly defamatory statements about commissioner Patilias Gamato.
>> Mr Gamato said he was insulted when Mr Namorong began substituting the word tomato for his surname.
>> "He made some defamatory statements and also called my surname, which is Gamato as 'tomato'," he said.
>> "I don't look like a tomato, I'm a human being."
PNG case aside, some serious people are arguing today that as our computers and phone become extensions of our mind, taking some person phone or Facebook away is a form of torture or human right violation.
Presumably some will retain access so that: “The time will allow information to be collected to identify users that hide behind fake accounts, users that upload pornographic images, users that post false and misleading information on Facebook to be filtered and removed,”
Unless the PNG government pulled a "Cambridge Analytica" on its citizens and squirreled away FB personal data.
Seems heavy handed and ineffectual as a means of hunting down fake users, with a high risk of cannibalizing the social media presence of legitimate (especially tourist catering) businesses.
>Analysts will explore how fake news and pornography spreads, and assess whether country needs its own version of the platform
They are banning facebook, because it probably became a nuisance for the government. PNG ranks in the 136th place out of 176 countries Corruption Perception Index. This wikipedia article sheds more light on the issue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Papua_New_Guinea