The Nauru government has hit out again at unfavourable international media coverage, saying it should be respected as a sovereign nation.
Facebook image Photo: Supplied
The Nauru government has come under heavy criticism since ousting its judiciary last year, and imposing effective bans on international media with prohibitive visa fees.
Its latest move has been to ban Facebook, which president Baron Waqa says is to protect its citizens from pornography.
He says he's disappointed that critics are concerned for refugee children, but they don't seem to care about Nauruan children.
Critics say the Facebook ban is another cynical move to block international scrutiny of Nauru, but Mr Waqa says it's to protect its people from the abuse of the internet which has seen vulnerable Nauruan girls being maliciously harassed and bullied.
He says pornographic sites are permanently blocked while sites like Facebook, that have been abused by malicious users are under a temporary block until protection mechanisms are in place.