The dramatic shift by Meta, which announced it will abandon its fact-checking program, does not bode well for the fight against the spread of misinformation and disinformation online.
Tag: freedom of expression
In China, stand-up comics must submit their sets to a state censor. Plus, there are self-appointed wannabe censors online (like on all social media!). How do would-be professional standup comedians handle this blatantly gray zone?
With results in Sunday’s election showed Kais Saied winning the election by a landslide, Tunisia may have definitively returned to dictatorship and closed a chapter on democracy in the Arab world that began a generation ago on the streets of Tunis. Daraj took a pre-election look at what it means for the people who live there.
A new generation of coca leaf growers and pickers is posting video content on social media. They show their life in the fields, how the crops grow, the laboratories where they create the coca paste, and even the exit routes for drug trafficking. And while they used to be stigmatized, and threatened by armed groups, their content is escaping censorship and violence.
The Pope has once again caused outrage because of a homophobic statement he made last week. This is far from being the first time the pontiff has sparked controversy for something he said — by mistake or otherwise.
Bavaria’s ban of the schwa (ə) and other symbols used in gender-sensitive writing is yet another step in the debate over inclusive language. But language changes when society does, not the other way around.
The context and scale are different, but there are common methods in the suppression of demonstrations in the Arab Spring in 2011 and crackdowns against pro-Palestinian groups on university campuses in the U.S. Will President Biden, like Hosni Mubarak 13 years ago, lose power as a result?
As the world mourns the Putin critic and the WikiLeaks founder faces extradition to the U.S., Spanish journalist Juan Carlos Laviana argues that while the men may not be “ordinary” journalists, they both used investigative means and technological capacity to shine a light on those in power. And they were right.
Trailing only China in the widespread use across the nation of security cameras equipped with facial recognition technology.
Research by anthropologist Darren Byler provides a rare look inside the surveillance state China has created to control the Uyghur population of Xinjiang province, where every move is tracked, people are forced to carry cell phones, and “re-education camps” await anyone suspected of trying to break free.
The hyper-inclusive queer world of fashion challenges the view that gayness is a “curable” tendency.
The Modi government’s attempts to censor the media and intimidate independent journalism pose a grave danger to Indian democracy.
Acclaimed Italian writer Roberto Saviano is in court this month facing defamation charges from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. With this essay, Saviano stands by his words, and his right to use them.
The Rappler CEO and Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke with The Wire‘s Arfa Khanum Sherwani about how journalists everywhere need to prepare themselves for the worst-case scenario of government-ordered closure and what they should do to face up to such a challenge.
From Tolstoy and the Bolshoi Ballet to Russia Today, the West is banishing Russian composers, artists and media. But is banishment of culture the right move in times of war?
The Cuban government has once again jailed dissenting artists or forced them to flee. But anger at the 60-year dictatorship has spread far beyond artistic circles and the regime no longer has the power to silence people.
Three journalists were killed in the first three weeks of 2022, sparking nationwide protests. But not only narcotraffickers are to blame: The state, corrupt private companies, and even media companies themselves hold responsibility for leaving journalists vulnerable on the frontline.
Twenty years later the Islamist group is back in power in Afghanistan, but trying this time to win international support. Now that several months have passed, experts on the ground can offer a clear assessment if the group has genuinely transformed on such issues as women’s rights and free speech.
A determined student’s victory for freedom of hair in conservative Colombia.
The mysterious disappearance – and brief reappearance – of the Chinese tennis star after her #metoo accusation against a party leader shows Beijing is prepared to do whatever is necessary to quash any challenge from its absolute rule.
The decision not to get vaccinated against coronavirus is a personal one, a matter of individual freedom. But the fact that not everyone sees it this way shows the extent to which the pandemic has politicized the private sphere.
Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov have won the Nobel Peace Prize for their fight to defend freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia. Ressa, who co-founded the news site Rappler, was commended by the Nobel committee for using freedom of expression to “expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in […]
There’s a bitter irony when an exhibit titled ‘Non-Freedom of Expression’ itself faces censorship.
Glittering virtual lounges are popping up, inviting people to participate, solely by audio, in debates on all subjects. And, in the Middle East, the powers that be disapprove of the elites’ infatuation with a trendy new app.
Syria Deeply looks back at some of the history and evolution of the country’s revolutionary art over the past five years of war, including political graffiti, digital art and other mediums that have become part of the uprising’s language and culture.
Categories
Egypt Is No Country For Free Journalists
Last month, Spanish correspondent Ricard Gonzalez was forced to leave Egypt in a hurry. Here is his story
-OpEd- BOGOTA — The government of Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa released a somewhat Orwellian video last month that tries to turn the concept of dictatorship on its head. The soundtrack of the video, which touts the administration’s various achievements, is a schmaltzy pop song that goes: “If this is a dictatorship, then we’ve been had. […]
After the deadly attack against French magazine Charlie Hebdo, two other Paris-based news organizations, L’Obs formerly Le Nouvel Observateur and Worldcrunch, have collected those three plain words of support — “Je suis Charlie” — from 21 different people around the world, in their native languages. I Am Charlie …
LA CRÓNICA, EXCELSIOR (Mexico) Worldcrunch MEXICO CITY – Ciudad Victoria, a city in one of the most dangerous states in Mexico today, Tamaulipas, was recently flooded with brochures offering money for information on the people behind a project called “Valor por Tamaulipas” (Courage for Tamaulipas). The project is indeed courageous, aiming to diffuse information regarding […]
BANGKOK POST (Thailand), AFP (France), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch HO CHI MINH CITY – The Vietnamese communist party has jailed three bloggers Monday for disseminating anti-government propaganda. The three bloggers belong to the independent media group Free Journalists Club, which sought to outline human rights violations in the southeast Asian country. The renowned dissident blogger, Nguyen […]
THE IRRAWADDY (Thailand), DEMOCRATIC VOICE OF BURMA (Burma), AFP (France) Worldcrunch The Burmese government has announced it is ending media censorship with immediate effect — a symbolic step on the road to freedom in the long repressed Asian country. The Burmese pro-democracy newsmagazine Irrawaddy, based in Thailand, reported that officials from the government’s Press Scrutiny […]