Syria's communications minister discusses Meta's business tools returning to Syria
The talks covered advertising and business services on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and both sides agreed on steps to follow up the file.
Syria's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdulsalam Haykal, held talks in Damascus on 11 October 2026 with Fares Akkad, Meta's regional head for the Middle East and Africa. They discussed the steps needed to bring the commercial services of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp back to Syria, including advertising tools and business services, along with other areas of cooperation.
According to a ministry post on its Telegram channel, Haykal outlined Syria's programme to develop its digital infrastructure, expand fiber-optic networks, improve internet services and prepare the environment for e-commerce and entrepreneurship. He stressed the government's interest in making available digital tools that help Syrians develop their businesses and keep pace with the world.
Akkad welcomed the prospects the ministry's vision opens for developing Syria's digital economy. He described the role Meta's platforms could play in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and helping Syrian products and services reach local and global markets, including Syrians abroad.
The two sides also discussed opportunities that Meta's Silk Link project could offer in diversifying connectivity and data routes through Syria, which the ministry said would improve reliability and reduce response times for users in the region. Deputy Minister Mahmoud Mousa and Khaled al-Homsi, director general of the Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority, attended the meeting.
The ministry said the two sides agreed on practical steps to follow up the issues raised and remove obstacles to the return of commercial services on global platforms, after 15 years of digital isolation. No final agreement and no date for the return of the services has been announced so far.
