Akismet Could Not Be Verified

I get this error message when I try to insert my Akismet API Key.

“The key you entered could not be verified because a connection to akismet.com could not be established. Please check your server configuration.”

Also, it says “Network functions are disabled”

“Your web host or server administrator has disabled PHP’s fsockopen or gethostbynamel functions. Akismet cannot work correctly until this is fixed. Please contact your web host or firewall administrator and give them this information about Akismet’s system requirements.”