February 26, 2021

New York Times: China Punishes Those Who Question ‘Martyrs.’ A Sleuth Keeps Track.

New York Times: China Punishes Those Who Question ‘Martyrs.’ A Sleuth Keeps Track.. “At least seven people over the past week have been threatened, detained or arrested after casting doubt over the government’s account of the deaths of Chinese soldiers during a clash last year with Indian troops. Three of them are being detained for between seven and 15 days. The other four face criminal charges, including one man who lives outside China…. Their punishment might have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for an online database of speech crimes in China.”

New Resources 0
February 22, 2021

Grand Forks Herald: North Dakota House approves bill targeting social media companies for censorship

Grand Forks Herald: North Dakota House approves bill targeting social media companies for censorship. “The proposal would bar social media sites with more than 150 million active users from censoring North Dakotans’ posts based on race, religion or viewpoint. The bill would would also open up social media companies to civil lawsuits from residents who believe they’ve been blacklisted from the sites.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
February 22, 2021

New York Times: China Censors the Internet. So Why Doesn’t Russia?

New York Times: China Censors the Internet. So Why Doesn’t Russia?. “For years, the Russian government has been putting in place the technological and legal infrastructure to clamp down on freedom of speech online, leading to frequent predictions that the country could be heading toward internet censorship akin to China’s great firewall. But even as Mr. Putin faced the biggest protests in years last month, his government appeared unwilling — and, to some degree, unable — to block websites or take other drastic measures to limit the spread of digital dissent.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
February 6, 2021

Russia: Social Media Pressured to Censor Posts (Human Rights Watch)

Human Rights Watch: Russia: Social Media Pressured to Censor Posts. “Russian authorities are escalating pressure on social media companies, forcing them to censor online content deemed illegal by the government, Human Rights Watch said today. Social media platforms have received warnings and face fines and potential blocking for failure to comply with Russia’s rapidly growing oppressive internet legislation.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
December 26, 2020

New York Times: She Chronicled China’s Crisis. Now She Is Accused of Spreading Lies

New York Times: She Chronicled China’s Crisis. Now She Is Accused of Spreading Lies. “In one video, during the lockdown in Wuhan, she filmed a hospital hallway lined with rolling beds, the patients hooked up to blue oxygen tanks. In another, she panned over a community health center, noting that a man said he was charged for a coronavirus test, even though residents believed the tests would be free. At the time, Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old former lawyer turned citizen journalist, embodied the Chinese people’s hunger for unfiltered information about the epidemic. Now, she has become a symbol of the government’s efforts to deny its early failings in the crisis and promote a victorious narrative instead.”

COVID-19 0
November 17, 2020

Brookings: A brief experiment in a more open Chinese web

Brookings: A brief experiment in a more open Chinese web. “On Oct. 9, a company backed by China’s largest cybersecurity company, Qihoo 360, released Tuber, an app for Android in China that enabled the browsing of content outside the Great Firewall, including banned sites like Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Netflix. A blurb on the app’s dedicated webpage noted that ‘Tuber has passed the review of relevant competent authorities and obtained an online operating license.’”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
November 16, 2020

Voice of America: Chinese Authorities Punish Citizens for Using Foreign Social Media

Voice of America: Chinese Authorities Punish Citizens for Using Foreign Social Media. “Chinese Communist Party officials appear to be increasing their harassment and punishment of Chinese internet users who publish on foreign social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. China’s government firewall blocks access to those sites, but users can use VPNs and other technology to circumvent it.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
November 12, 2020

Al Jazeera: How social media regulations are silencing dissent in Africa

Al Jazeera: How social media regulations are silencing dissent in Africa. “Through social media platforms, the #EndSARS activists not only managed to call thousands of Nigerians to action and hold Nigerian authorities to account, but also garnered unprecedented international attention and support for their cause. The fact that a burgeoning human rights movement has been contemplated, created and sustained online did not go unnoticed in the overwhelmingly conservative halls of power in Nigeria. Shaken to the core by this new media phenomenon and its astounding proclivity to galvanise a traditionally silenced and disregarded youthful majority, some Nigerian state governors and public officials started to demand that social media be regulated.”

Research & Opinion 0
November 11, 2020

CNN: TikTok exec says she ‘misspoke’ in hearing about the app censoring Xinjiang content

CNN: TikTok exec says she ‘misspoke’ in hearing about the app censoring Xinjiang content. “TikTok censored videos related to incidents in Xinjiang to avoid promoting conflict, an executive at the short-form video app told UK lawmakers this week. [This is the statement referred to when Ms. Kanter says she misspoke.] The statement came during a hearing held Thursday by the United Kingdom’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which grilled Elizabeth Kanter, the company’s director of government relations and public policy for UK, Ireland and Israel, over TikTok’s links to China.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
October 26, 2020

Financial Post: Sandvine’s Technology Used for Web Censoring in More Than a Dozen Nations

Financial Post: Sandvine’s Technology Used for Web Censoring in More Than a Dozen Nations. “In Jordan, Sandvine Inc.’s equipment was used to censor an LGBTQ website. Egypt’s government relied on Sandvine equipment to block access to independent news sites. In Azerbaijan, it was deployed for a social media blackout, current and former employees say.Last month, U.S. -based Sandvine, which is owned by the private equity firm Francisco Partners, said it would stop selling its equipment in Belarus after Bloomberg News reported that it was used to censor the internet during a crucial election.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
October 22, 2020

Editorial: HKFP launches permanent digital archive of the History Museum’s ‘Hong Kong Story’(Hong Kong Free Press)

Hong Kong Free Press: Editorial: HKFP launches permanent digital archive of the History Museum’s ‘Hong Kong Story’. “On October 18, 2020, hundreds of Hongkongers queued for hours to pay a visit to the city’s History Museum. It was its last day before the permanent exhibition ‘Hong Kong Story’ closed for an extensive two-year revamp. There were fears that the new displays may censor or exclude politically sensitive events such as the city’s colonial history and its relationship with China….Ahead of the closure, HKFP paid a visit in order to capture a visual archive of the exhibit.”

New Resources 0

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