Censorship and takedowns from Palestine to Colombia
This week we're watching censorship and takedowns in several countries. In Colombia censorship of online content came following a national strike. People are on the run in Myanmar as the government attempts to silence influencers. In Palestine, platforms have been accused of removing content and suspending accounts posting about evictions of Palestinian families.
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The latest top stories
Controversy over Facebook and Instagram censorship of content on the national strike (Forbes)
Thousands of users jumped on Thursday to social networks, mostly Twitter, to denounce that their content on the national strike taking place in Colombia had been disappearing.
"'This story is no longer available' was the sign that appeared to the followers of Nataly Arias, an Instagram user who lives in Cali. She found out when she woke up on Thursday morning that everything she had shared from her cell phone the day before was gone."
Myanmar’s coup threatens to wipe out a generation of vloggers, influencers and entrepreneurs (Rest of World)
After silencing opposition and dissidents, the military junta are now targeting the young generation of vloggers, influencers and tech entrepreneurs - basically anyone with an online presence and opinion. To avoid arrest under 505 A, the Burmese penal code that criminalizes online dissent, several young activists, journalists and connected people are on the run.
"The junta’s direct attacks on free media, activists, and the infrastructure they use to communicate, have gutted a generation that had only begun to assert itself politically, socially, and economically. Over the past decade of civilian-led governance, Myanmar’s young people learned to use the country’s new openness and connectivity to advocate for their rights, build businesses, and push for political reform. In just over three months, the military has torn down everything they built."
Sheikh Jarrah content takedowns reveal pattern of online restrictions in Palestine (The National)
Despite excuses of "technical errors," digital rights activists and researchers have accused Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were all accused of deliberately removing content or suspending accounts that shed light on and documented the enforced evictions of Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, and the ensuing violent crackdown by Israeli forces.
"It is increasingly common for Palestinians to see their social media posts disappear without explanation as Facebook has developed a number of policies that appear to disproportionately affect Palestinian content. If the content is not removed at the behest of the Israeli government, it is likely the decision of artificial intelligence."
Meedan Updates
Learning from Tsek.ph, the 2019 Philippines Election Monitoring Project
In 2021, Meedan is supporting yet another consortium of fact-checkers. Ekta - a consortium of six fact-checking groups in India has come together to address misinformation around the Legislative Assembly elections at the state level and other issues. As we embarked on this endeavour, we spoke to Yvonne Chua, Associate Professor at University of the Philippines and a leading participant of Tsek.ph, to revisit the lessons learned out of the experience. Here are the key takeaways.