censorship
No internet in Gaza. Screenshot from a video “Can Starlink Provide Internet To Gaza?” by Interesting Engineering. Fair use. When the combination of big tech and politics failed the Palestinian people by overlooking the internet disruptions affecting Gaza, grassroots technology known as the “network tree” came to the rescue. Utilizing the humblest of elements such as buckets, smartphones, and e-SIMs, this ingeniously simple technology provided much-needed connectivity to a community fragmented by war, in the face of severely damaged infrastructure. Since the war on Gaza began in the aftermath o...
Global Voices
A Texas public library can't remove books simply because they discuss topics like "butts and farts," a federal court ruled last week. The case is one of the more bizarre instances of library censorship in recent years, but it nonetheless led to a decisive option from the majority, who found that it is unconstitutional to remove library books out of a "desire to limit access to ideas with which they [disagree]." The legal battle began after Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham received complaints in 2021 concerning "pornographic and overtly sexual books in the library's children's section." The co...
Reason
The creators behind BASEDPolitics are suing over a measure meant to either ban TikTok or force its divestiture. President Joe Biden signed the (highly unconstitutional) bill in April, and it already faces several legal challenges, including one filed by TikTok and one filed by eight TikTok content creators. Like those efforts, the BASEDPolitics suit focuses on the law's affront to free speech. "We wanted to file a lawsuit that was specifically focused on free speech and the First Amendment from the creators' perspective, rather than some of the other, business-related concerns in other lawsuit...
Reason
In a welcome development for people who care about liberty, Australia's government suspended its efforts to censor the planet. The country's officials suffered pushback from X (formerly Twitter) and condemnation by free speech advocates after attempting to block anybody, anywhere from seeing video of an attack at a Sydney church. At least for the moment, they've conceded defeat based, in part, on recognition that X is protected by American law, making censorship efforts unenforceable. A Censor Throws In the Towel"I have decided to discontinue the proceedings in the Federal Court against X Corp...
Reason
Photos of 11 journalists from Kyrgyzstan who were arrested in January 2024. Screenshot from the video “Дело против 11 журналистов сфабриковано // Temirov Live” from Temirov Live YouTube channel. Fair use. This article was written by Alva Omarova for Vlast.kz and published on May 22, 2024. An edited version is published on Global Voices under a media partnership agreement. In May, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published their 2024 press freedom index, highlighting the region-wide crackdown on freedom of expression in Central Asia. While Turkmenistan remains at the bottom of the table, the sco...
Global Voices
A communications tower in Indonesia. Source: Flickr photo by Richard Wasserman, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Media groups, academics, and human rights advocates are opposing a bill containing proposed amendments to Indonesia’s Broadcasting Law, which would restrict the broadcast of investigative reports and LGBTQ+ content. Introduced in 2020, the bill was deliberated at the House of Representatives in 2023 and minor revisions were made on May 16, 2024. Proponents said updating the 2002 law is necessary to develop a “sustainable broadcasting industry” and to address the challenges brought about by the rise ...
Global Voices
Among those who think the United States is an unseemly cesspool of unrestrained opinions voiced by those people, Europe is often touted as an alternative for speech regulation. European Union law, following in the footsteps of national legislation, imposes enforceable duties on private platforms to purge "hate speech" and "disinformation"—or else. But free speech advocates warn that these laws are clumsy and dangerous tools that threaten to muzzle expression far beyond the bounds of their nominal targets. They're right, and they now have receipts. Europe's Intrusive Speech RegulationsIn a new ...
Reason
Punjab Assembly House in Lahore, Pakistan. Image by Voice of America via Wikipedia. Public Domain. On May 20, 2024, the legislative assembly of the state of Punjab in Pakistan passed the Defamation Bill 2024 despite strong protests from the opposition benches and journalists in the gallery. The bill focuses on limiting the spread of fake news across print, electronic, and social media platforms against government officials and institutions. This bill has jurisdictional issue as it would apply to people outside the state of Punjab as well. Under the bill, any individual can be held liable for m...
Global Voices
Last year, dissident Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof was unable to accept his Cannes invitation to join the Un Certain Regard Jury because of imposed travel restrictions. This year, he was able to present his new film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, in person. But not without a gripping off-screen story. Two weeks ago, Rasoulof clandestinely fled Iran upon receiving an eight-year prison sentence for standing up to the brutal theocratic regime. His nail-biting escape led him to Germany to finish the edit of the film, and up until a few days ago, no one was sure whether his escape meant that he...
Euronews (English)
Screenshot: Sky News Australia YouTube video – Same-sex parenting book ban defended by Cumberland City Councillor When Sydney’s Cumberland City Council placed a ban on the book Same-sex Parents in its eight public libraries, it was bound to cause controversy. In addition, the issue highlighted Australia’s record of historical and current censorship. There was immediate online outrage. David Tyler, aka Urban Wronski, summed up the negative reactions: “We’re going to make it clear tonight that … these kind of books, same-sex parents books, don’t find their way to our kids,” Christou said during ...
Global Voices
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