“Connected in the Developing World” connectivity map by Big Thinking Applied. Labeled for reuse.

As a community of writers and activists, Global Voices contributors have faced censorship, harassment and direct threats because of our activism on Facebook since the early days of the platform. We’ve been writing about these experiences for more than a decade.

We also know that for Facebook, and for anyone trying to understand how tech platforms and policies interact with free speech, privacy and other civil and political rights, past experience is instructive.

How does ethnic hate speech on Facebook affect public life in Afghanistan?

How are police in Bangladesh using Facebook to track citizens’ activities?

What was it like when Facebook was still accessible in China?

When did Russians first start noticing “Kremlin bots”?

The stories below answer these and many more questions. They remind us that while headlines might focus on just a handful of experiences in certain countries, there are stories like this from nearly every country around the world. And they illustrate how many of the issues dominating western news cycles in 2018 — government trolls, “fake news” and endemic harassment — are nothing new.

Here is a selection of our strongest coverage of free speech, censorship and human rights on the world’s largest social network, since 2008.

CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

• Kyrgyz Security Services Declare War on President’s Facebook Critics (Jauary 2017)

• Is Social Media Helping to Perpetuate Violence in Afghanistan? (June 2016)

• In Afghanistan, Social Media Gives Rise to Hate Speech (May 2016)

• Facebook Lands More People in Trouble in Kazakhstan (April 2016)

• How Afghanistan's Politics of Ethnicity and Honour Play Out on Facebook (March 2016)

• Kabul Taxi is Blocked on Facebook. Long Live Kabul Taxi! (October 2015)

• Religious Hatred on Facebook in Tajikistan (March 2013)

• Tajik Official Blocks Facebook and Summons its CEO (November 2012)

• Uzbekistan: ‘National’ Social Network Not Quite a Facebook Clone (July 2012)

• Uzbekistan: Playing politics on Facebook (December 2011)

• Azerbaijan: As protests loom, Facebook is monitored (March 2011)

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

• Macedonian Citizen Fined 400 Euro For Insulting Turkish President Erdoğan on Facebook (August 2017)

• ‘The Long Arm of the Kremlin’: Kazakh Man Goes to Prison for Insulting Vladimir Putin on Facebook (December 2016)

• Trump Propagandists From Macedonia Shy Away From His Victory (November 2016)

• Bulgarian ‘Green’ Activist Faces Lawsuit Over Facebook Post (May 2016)

• Facebook Finally Suspends ‘Pegida Macedonia’ Anti-Muslim Page (January 2016)

• Hungarian Woman Fined for Facebook Post About State Spending (November 2015)

• Facebook Responds to ‘Stop Political Blocking’ Campaign — But is it Enough? (June 2015)

• Navalny Protest Rally Facebook Event Page Blocked in Russia (December 2014)

• Facebook Weighs in on Ukraine-Russia Takedown Dispute (October 2014)

• Ukrainian Ministry of Information Thanks Facebook Bots for Their Hard Work (September 2014)

• Anton Nossik on the Coming End of Facebook, Twitter, and Google in Russia (September 2014)

• Ukraine Asks Facebook's Zuckerberg to Discipline Kremlin Bots (August 2014)

• A Russian Gulag for American Social Networks’ Data? (April 2014)

• Facebook Predicts the Outcome of Macedonian Presidential Elections, Again? (April 2014)

• Facebook Status Criticizing Crimea Occupation Gets Journalist Fired (March 2014)

• Facebook Teams Up with Russia's Top Search Engine (January 2014)

• Russia: Facebook Bots Massively Vote for Putin (October 2011)

• Macedonia: Concerns Over Anti-Protest Collusion of Facebook and Police (June 2011)

• Serbia: Police Hunt Facebook Misogynists (November 2010)

• Macedonia: Facebook Removes Ministry of the Interior's Personal Profile (April 2009)

• Serbia: Facebook Group of Serbian Nationalists (December 2008)

EAST ASIA

• Facebook's ‘Explore Feed’ Experiment is Hurting Small Businesses, NGOs and Political Groups in Cambodia (November 2017)

• Philippines: On Facebook's Free Version, Fake News is Even Harder to Spot (July 2017)

• Violence in Northwest Myanmar Sparks an Information War Online With Hate Speech and Fake Photos (September 2017)

• Facebook Bans Racist Word ‘Kalar’ in Myanmar, Triggers Collateral Censorship (June 2017)

• Netizen Report: Vietnam Says Facebook Will Cooperate With Censorship Requests on Offensive and ‘Fake’ Content (May 2017)

• Facebook ‘Mistakenly’ Censored Tiananmen Massacre Tribute (May 2017)

• Why Did Facebook Remove a Post Criticizing Singapore Police? (July 2016)

• Singapore Police Seize Computers, Demand Passwords From Advocates Over Facebook Posts (June 2016)

• Oops! Facebook's Flag Error Unintentionally Puts the Philippines in a ‘State of War’ (June 2016)

• Netizens Mock Mark Zuckerberg's Love Affair with China (March 2016)

• How Cambodian Politics Became a Battle for Facebook ‘Likes’ (March 2016)

• When China Briefly Unblocked Facebook, Trolls Rushed In (November 2015)

• Who Are the 5.5 Million Facebook Fans of Chinese State Newspaper People's Daily? (June 2015)

• In Taiwan and on Facebook, the Nipple is Not Yet Free (April 2015)

• Netizen Report: Can Tibetan Users Trust Facebook? (February 2015)

• Malaysian Government Threatens to Block Facebook Over ‘Abuse’ Reports (August 2014)

• Vietnamese Government ‘Opinion Shapers’ Target Activist Facebook Pages (July 2014)

• People in Hong Kong Have a Legitimate Reason to Freak Out When Facebook Is Down (June 2014)

• Hong Kong: Facebook Privacy, Anonymous Sources, Political Censorship (November 2013)

• In Thailand, Facebook ‘Likes’ Can Land You in Jail (August 2013)

• Philippines: Anti-Mining Activist Arrested over Facebook Post (October 2012)

• Thailand: Student blogger ‘witch hunted’ on Facebook (August 2011)

• China: What Happened to Chinese Facebook Users on April 5, 2011 (April 2011)

• Vietnam: State of Social Media one year after Facebook block (January 2011)

• China: Facebook blocked? Not quite! (July 2008)

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

• Mexico's Electoral Authority Announces Collaboration with Facebook, Casting Doubt on its Credibility (February 2018)

• Brazil's Largest Newspaper Quits Facebook, Accuses it of Harboring ‘Fake News’ (February 2018)

• Netizen Report: Colombian Court Demands Password to Journalist’s Facebook Account (July 2017)

• Venezuela's President Finally Discovers Facebook, a Decade After the Social Network's Arrival (February 2016)

• Netizen Report: Pro-Government Hackers and Constitutional Amendment Put Free Speech Under Fire in Ecuador (December 2015)

• Bloggers Get Bad Rap in Trinidad & Tobago as Paid Political Trolls Do Online Damage (April 2015)

• The Facebook Pages Behind Sunday's Anti-Government Protests in Brazil (March 2015)

• Driven by Facebook Rumors, Violent Mob Murders Brazilian Woman (May 2014)

• “Digital Hooligans” from Iran Attack Messi's Facebook (December 2013)

• Venezuela: Facebook User Detained for “Destabilizing” Photograph (April 2013)

• Brazil: Facebook Censors Photos of the ‘SlutWalk’ (June 2012)

• Honduras: Blogger's Facebook Account is Shut Down (October 2011)

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

• Calls for Boycott After Pizza Hut Israel Mocks Palestinian Hunger Strikers on Facebook (May 2017)

• A ‘Verified’ Social Media Account Can Help Protect Iranian Activists — If They’re Lucky Enough to Get One (October 2017)

• Israel Advances New Facebook Bill, Threatening Free Speech  (January 2017)

• The UAE Has Avoided an ‘Arab Spring’ by Systematically Repressing Critical Speech (September 2016)

• Algerian Court Upholds Conviction of Activist Jailed for Insulting Islam on Facebook (September 2016)

• Is Iraq Restricting Speech on Facebook? (February 2015)

• Are the World's Biggest Internet Companies Under the Turkish President's Thumb? (April 2015)

• Egyptian Facebook User Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Putting Mickey Mouse Ears on Sisi (October 2015)

• Facebook Activist Details How She Received a Seven-Year Prison Sentence in Iran (September 2015)

• Iranian Facebook User Sentenced to Death (November 2014)

• Electronic Witch-Hunts in Bahrain, Israel and the ISIS (August 2014)

• As Rockets Rain on Gaza, Facebook Does Nothing to Stop Hate Speech Against Palestinians (July 2014)

• Fear, Love and Iran's Favorite Internet Enemy (it's Facebook) (July 2014)

• Google, Twitter, Facebook Blocked in Iraq (June 2014)

• Yemeni Activist Receives Death Threat on Facebook (January 2014)

• Saudi Arabia Jails Seven Facebook Users for Calling for Protests (July 2013)

•  Iran's Supreme Leader Behind Enemy Lines with New Facebook Page (January 2013)

• Iran: ‘Soldiers of Islam’ Hack Cartoonist's Facebook Page (September 2012)

• Syria: Facebook and YouTube Unblocked, Among Others (February 2011)

• Egypt: After Twitter, Facebook Now Blocked (January 2011)

• Egypt: Facebook Disables Popular Anti-Torture Page (November 2010)

• Lebanon: Is Facebook being used to recruit spies? (October 2010)

• Egypt: Bad Bad Facebook (October 2010)

• Egypt: Security Department to Monitor Facebook and Support the Government (August 2010)

• Facebook Removes Moroccan Secularist Group and its Founder (March 2010)

SOUTH ASIA

• Cyber Warrior Group Threatens to Extort Indian Women on Facebook (May 2017)

• Indian Techies Work To Detect Fake WhatsApp And Facebook messages (April 2017)

• Indian Government Bans 22 Social Media Platforms in Kashmir including Facebook, WhatsApp (April 2017)

• There's a Scary Pattern of Phony Facebook Posts Used as an Excuse to Attack Hindus in Bangladesh (November 2016)

• In Bangladesh, Extremists Use Social and Mainstream Media Data to Target Victims (May 2016)

• Indians Blast Facebook Over Broken Community Standards (August 2015)

• Stopped and Frisked by Facebook: ‘Real Name’ Policy Puts Speech Before Privacy (October 2015)

• Facebook Vows to Improve Real Name Policy. But How Far Will They Go? (November 2015)

• A 13-Year-Old Boy's Horrific Death Becomes Viral Facebook Video in Bangladesh (July 2015)

• ‘Revolutionary’ Band Laal Speaks Out Against Pakistan's Facebook and YouTube Bans (August 2014)

• Revolutionary Band Laal's Facebook Page is Now Accessible in Pakistan. Hooray? Not Really. (June 2014)

• Teenage Bloggers in Bangladesh Arrested For ‘Blasphemous’ Facebook Posts (March 2014)

• Facebook Refused to Delete a Video on How to Make a Petrol Bomb (December 2013)

• Local Police in Bangladesh Capital Dhaka Sign Up for Facebook (September 2013)

• Bangladesh: Government Observation of Facebook Ignites Debate (February 2012)

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

• Leaked Documents Show That Ethiopia’s Ruling Elites Are Hiring Social Media Trolls (And Watching Porn) (January 2018)

• Is Free Basics Really Bringing More Africans Online? A Case Study From Ghana (July 2017)

• Ethiopian Protester Sentenced to Six Years Behind Bars for Facebook Posts (May 2017)

• In Tanzania, Expressing Political Opinions on Social Media is Becoming Increasingly Dangerous (September 2016)

• Ugandans Are Finally Back on Social Media After Days-Long Blackout (May 2016)

• Ghanaian Facebook Commentator Sued For Defamation by Deputy Attorney General (February 2016)

• WhatsApp Leads in Popularity, But Not Substance in Tanzanian Election Campaign (October 2015)

• Ugandan Authorities Jail Facebook User for “Offensive” Comments About President Musveni (June 2015)

• Bridging the Digital Divide? Facebook and Telcos Bring Free Apps to Zambia (August 2014)

• Young Woman in Madagascar Kills Herself after Photos Were Re-posted on Facebook (March 2014)

• Zimbabwe: Security Elites Get Facebook Grilling (June 2012)

• Mozambique: The Irrepressible Facebook Blogger (December 2011)

• Kenya: Facebook Should Unfriend John Mwau (July 2011)

• Uganda: Government Attempts to Block Facebook, Twitter as Protests Continue (April 2011)

• Zimbabwe: Zimbabwean arrested over Facebook comment (March 2011)

• Zambia: Minister Uses Facebook to Announce Government Policies (February 2011)

• Nigeria: The Facebook Page of Nigeria's President (July 2010)