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Archive for 2014

One Person’s Terrorist, Another Person’s Freedom Fighter: Ronan Farrow, #twitterpurge, and The Moral Responsibility of Corporations

by mayukh sen

Calls for corporate monitoring of social media – on the grounds that some netizens may be inciting emotional, physical, or terroristic violence – have resurfaced among Ronan Farrow, critics of the #twitterpurge campaign, and #IAmJada advocates. Some journalists and media freedom activists fear that these pleas for corporate responsibility edge eerily close to censorship.

#IMWeekly: August 1, 2014

by claire mcnear

In this week's #IMWeekly: Russia's "bloggers law" takes effect, Azerbaijan cracks down on human rights activists, a San Francisco lawyer abuses YouTube's reporting function to get a video taken offline, and a blogger is fired from a language school for writing about homophones.

#IMWeekly: July 18, 2014

by claire mcnear

In this week's #IMWeekly: A French blogger is dealt a hefty fine for a restaurant review, Vietnam games Facebook to lock activists out of their accounts, and nine journalists are charged with terrorism in Ethiopia.

Moroccan YouTube Rapper El Haqed Arrested Again on Dubious Charges

by mayukh sen

Moroccan rapper El Haqed, who has inspired Moroccan youth with his impassioned and urgent YouTube pleas for social justice reform, is once again under fire by Moroccan authorities. This is the third time he has been arrested since 2011 on charges his supporters claim are bogus. Many suspect that it is his provocative music, critical of the country's stagnant political climate after the supposed reforms of 2011's Moroccan Spring, that makes him an easy target.