Featured stories about Freedom of Speech
Stories about Freedom of Speech
26 June 2020
From prison to exile: An interview with Vietnamese activist Tran Thi Nga
A former prisoner of conscience talks about her experience after she was arrested and the impact her incarceration had on her family.
25 June 2020
Thailand's ‘youthquake': Activism in the time of COVID-19
Pro-democracy flash mob protests rocked Thailand in January and February. COVID-19 has shifted acts of resistance to cyberspace.
20 June 2020
Timor-Leste plans to restore criminal defamation law amid concerns about its free speech impact
"This draft law threatens everyone, particularly vulnerable people without political connections or financial resources. "
16 June 2020
How can Nepal's literary tradition make its mark on the global scene?
Director of Global Literature in Libraries Initiatives shares insights into how Nepali literature can reach wider audiences.
A new game plays with ideas about how disinformation works in East Africa
"Chose Your Own Fake News" is an online game that teaches new internet users how to be more discerning about the information they receive and encounter in digital spaces.
12 June 2020
Malaysia’s new government probes journalists, critics despite free speech pledge
Civic groups argue that the Communications and Multimedia Act is being wielded as a weapon against free speech.
COVID-19 diaries from Wuhan: When diaries become citizen reports
"As time passes, diaries are like caterpillars transforming into butterflies."
11 June 2020
Post-crisis hackathon: Ecuadorian NGOs crowdsource for a world after COVID-19
More than 550 people registered for a hackathon to find solutions for Ecuador's post-COVID-19 future.
10 June 2020
Information warfare: COVID-19’s other battleground in the Middle East
As leaders vie to frame narratives and control public opinion on COVID-19, social media is a battlefield where influencers, trolls, bots, and commenter armies fight for influence and power.
8 June 2020
The mural will not be whitewashed: How dissident poet Joseph Brodsky continues to inspire free-thinking Russians
The 80th anniversary of the birth of Russian poet Joseph Brodsky was marked in Russia by an incident highlighting the special place writers still hold in Russian political culture.
6 June 2020
The future of protest in Uganda
There are parallels between police brutality in the US and Uganda, a country still haunted by the ghosts of its violent past.
5 June 2020
Silicon Valley tech giants race to build Africa's internet infrastructure. Should Africa worry?
Google and Facebook are building undersea internet cables for Africans with access to high-speed internet — but 33 nations in Africa still don't have comprehensive data privacy laws.
4 June 2020
‘A possible violation’: Mexico's biggest telecommunications operator is blocking Tor network
The Tor network is a free and open-source software used throughout the world by those who wish to exercise their freedom of expression and information while maintaining their privacy and anonymity.
3 June 2020
How COVID-19 is intensifying content moderation’s flaws
Internet platforms have always struggled with free expression, misinformation, and hate speech. But the COVID crisis has elevated those problems to a new level
1 June 2020
Pakistan blocks Twitter, Zoom and Periscope to curb critical voices
In mid-May, Twitter, Zoom and Persicope were either blocked or throttled across Pakistan. Activists say the move was meant to target a few web conferences on human rights issues.
As COVID-19 accelerates digital transformation, is the internet safe for women in the Middle East?
Women activists and journalists experience are particularly targeted online in attempts to intimidate, sow disinformation and discredit their work.
29 May 2020
Mozambique revokes decree that imposed exorbitant fees on journalist accreditation
The fees, introduced in 2018, ranged between 30 and 500 thousand meticais (around 507 and 8,450 USD) and were mandatory for foreign correspondents and foreign and national freelance journalists working...
Is China's ‘House of Cards’ in the Czech Republic beginning to wobble?
Public scepticism over Chinese influence campaigns and aggressive diplomacy is empowering anti-Beijing politicians.
25 May 2020
Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan accused of censorship after taking down Tokyo Olympics parody
The April issue of the club's magazine featured the Tokyo Olympics' emblem depicted in the shape of a coronavirus, which reportedly prompted copyright complaints from the Olympic Organising Committee.
23 May 2020
Uyghur human rights advocate Dilnur Reyhan laments lack of Muslim solidarity
Hatred against the West has blinded ordinary Muslim citizens to the point of refusing to believe news brought by the Western media, even when it concerns concentration camps for Muslims
