Stories about Censorship from February, 2019
USCYBERCOM attack gives Russian legislators new justification for tighter internet controls
Both pro-Kremlin experts and their opponents see the USCYBERCOM's attack on the "troll factory" as ammunition for isolationist policies.
Journalists, teachers, and activists targeted in attacks on free speech in the Philippines
"These are attempts by those in power to drown out the voice of the marginalized...displaying Duterte’s fear of committed journalism that seeks to inform, educate and guide the public."
Facebook, robot vacuum cleaner and pro-surveillance politician voted worst privacy intruders in Czech Republic
The Big Brother “anti-awards” ceremony is designed to shame those who violate people's rights to privacy and data protection.
As Putin preaches ‘sovereignty’ and tech modernization, experts lament loss of online freedoms
As Vladimir Putin promises Russians a faster, more reliable internet, two reports by independent expert groups paint an unrelentingly bleak picture of more crackdowns on online freedom of speech.
Samoa arrested blogger ‘King Faipopo’ accused of defaming prime minister
"New legislation, based on old criminal libel laws from colonial times, forces Samoa leaders to look backwards, not forwards."
Bangladeshi government targets world's largest Bengali blogging platform in porn censorship spree
The incidents of moral policing and the extension of the ban to a Bangla blogging platform and Google Books suggest that the authority's definition of “objectionable” may go far beyond.
Netizen Report: Both Bangladesh and South Korea are waging a ‘war on porn’ — and paving the way for political censorship
South Korea and Bangladesh are blocking porn and "obscene" content, Venezuela is blocking YouTube, and Uzbekistan has finally stopped blocking Facebook and VK.
‘Man returns to his native Xinjiang and disappears’ — a story too common for the headlines
Nurbolat Shalayit is one of hundreds of thousands of Xinjiang minorities whose current whereabouts are uncertain.
EU proposal pushes tech companies to tackle ‘terrorist content’ with AI, despite implications for war crimes evidence
AI tools can assess whether a video is violent or graphic. But can they determine the video’s intended purpose?
Censored on WeChat: As tensions in China-US trade conflict rose, so did WeChat censorship
The second installment in our series looks at the most censored topic in the 2018 WeChatscope dataset: the China-US trade war.
Russian public sector workers ordered to ‘like’ social media posts promoting the 2019 Winter Universiade
This is not the first instance of Russian public officials acting as "human bots" to promote the government's agenda online.
Venezuelans see the politics of humanitarian aid play out in online attacks
A unique and technically sophisticated attack this week targeted VoluntariosxVenezuela, an opposition-aligned humanitarian aid website.
Netizen Report: Will India’s regional internet shutdowns ever end?
Internet shutdowns continue apace in India, Venezuela's opposition websites are under pressure and Uganda's social media tax is driving down internet use.
Users flood Reddit with China censorship memes, balk at $150 million investment from Tencent
While Chinese companies regularly invest in US media companies, this makes for an unusual match.
Bulgaria's parliament and an educational institute named top privacy violators in ‘Big Brother Awards’
The Bulgarian edition of the Big Brother Awards is back as a means of shaming the worst violators of citizens’ privacy.
Censored on WeChat: A year of content removals on China's most powerful social media platform
Our team tracked censored posts from more than 4,000 public accounts covering daily news on WeChat. Here is what we found.
‘I won't stop': Kazakh man seeks justice for family caught in China's Xinjiang crackdown
UN experts say over a million people may be interned in Chinese "re-education" camps. But how many have died inside the facilities?
Japanese PM staff ‘restrict’ reporter from pressers for ‘spreading misinformation’ about environmental harm
Mochizuki apparently angered the Cabinet Office during a news conference on December 26, when she asked about the risks of environmental contamination at a controversial construction site in Okinawa.
Uganda's social media tax is leaving people disconnected — and failing to meet revenue targets
Prior to the tax's implementation, 47.4 percent of people in Uganda were using the internet. Three months later, that number had fallen to 35 percent.
#FreeAmade: Journalist arrested and tortured after reporting on violence in northern Mozambique
The journalist was detained by Mozambican police while reporting a story in Cabo Delgado.
Russian ‘anti-fake news’ bill rushed through parliament despite vocal opposition
Both the "anti-fake news" bill and its twin initiative against offending the authorities use Germany and other Western countries' laws as inspiration.
