In The News

Twitter Workers Charged for Spying: Washington Post

Ellen Nakashima and Greg Bensinger November 8, 2019
The US Department of Justice has charged two former Twitter employees, sending out a warning that any activities on tech platforms – social media, email, search engines – can be accessed by spies. The two men Saudi nationals tracked thousands of prominent critics of Saudi Arabia, marking the first formal accusations of the country spying in the United States. Foreign governments with nefarious...

Facebook’s Libra: Project Syndicate

Katharina Pistor June 24, 2019
Corporations are increasingly eager to resume control over traditional government responsibilities. The latest example: Facebook released a white paper on plans to develop a borderless cryptocurrency system with a group of central banks, regulators and 27 partner companies. Facebook along with Uber, Lyft, Visa, PayPal, Mastercard, eBay, and other firms – but not commercial banks – are...

Blocking Hate Sites Makes Them Stronger? Time

Alex Krasodomski-Jones May 22, 2019
Mass killers who attack places of worship or schools often seek attention and announce plans on online. Anonymous internet message boards like 8chan include users who reinforce the extremism and incite hatred. After attacks, community leaders urge monitoring, censorship or site closure. That may draw more users to other provocative platforms. “Blocking access to these platforms would validate...

Right-Wing Dominates German Social Media: Spiegel

Jörg Diehl, Roman Lehberger, Ann-Katrin Müller and Philipp Seibt May 7, 2019
Alternative for Germany, of AfD, holds less 15 percent of the seats in the German Bundestag, but research suggests the right-wing political party dominates Facebook, representing more than 80 percent of shared German political posts. Such activity, while over-representing actual support for AfD, could still give the party a boost in the May 23 European parliamentary elections. AfD relies on...

Social Media Politics: Project Syndicate

Shashi Tharoor May 1, 2019
India’s election concludes May 19 and social media could sway voters. With voters increasingly reading and sharing news on social media sties, candidates take no chance and participate. “While perhaps a bit more than a third of India’s population, and perhaps above 40% of its voters, use social media, there are no reliable studies of how frequently they use it for political news and views,”...

Protests’ Comeback in the Arab World: Economist

April 9, 2019
Recent protests in Algeria and Sudan have brought popular images of the so-called 2011 Arab Spring back to the fore – yet with a stark difference. As an article for the Economist observes, “The wars and chaos that followed the Arab spring have cooled the ardour of activists and their regional patrons …. [and] autocrats have sharpened their tools of repression in order to quash protests at home...

Social Media Blackout in Chad: Africannews

Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban March 30, 2019
A keypad, like the pen, can be mightier than the sword, and some governments impose social media blackouts. For the past year, Chad has prohibited the use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, reports Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban for Africannews. The impoverished nation of about 15 million people has endured years of rebellion, civil war and extremists like Boko Haram. The...