Canadian company helped Bahrain censor the internet

Canadian technology company Netsweeper helped the Bahraini government in their bid to censor the internet against content they deem inappropriate, according to a new report by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.

Netwsweeper assisted the Bahraini government in blocking opposition parties’ websites, certain news outlets, websites that have information on the Shia sect of Islam and content critical of Islam when they won a tender in January to provide a website filtering system for the Bahraini government.

One Arab Christian website was also blocked.

Bahrain is notorious for its crackdown on freedom of speech. Journalists, academics and even citizens who speak out against the government have been systematically arrested and even tortured for their dissent.