Iran Blocks Google+ Before Official Launch

The Google+ social networking site has joined the long list of websites filtered by the Islamic Republic.

ITNA, Iran’s Telecommunications News Agency, reports that Google Plus which was announced two weeks ago, will no longer be accessible to Iranian users.

Google Plus is still not officially available to all users but it would have been over the next few months; however, Iranian authorities have already blocked the site without any explanation.

Iranian authorities have expanded their efforts to block internet sites since the controversial presidential election of 2009, which triggered widespread protests.

Protesters used social networking sites to rally demonstrators and also to report on the protests using text and photos.

Google+ is Google’s new social networking site, announced on June 28 on Google’s official weblog. It claims to offer users more possibilities than Facebook and has been designed with Facebook’s limitations in mind.