The Shifting Landscape of Global Internet Censorship, released today, documents the practice of Internet censorship around the world through empirical testing in 45 countries of the availability of 2,046 of the world’s most-trafficked and influential websites, plus additional country-specific websites. The study finds evidence of filtering in 26 countries across four broad content themes: political, social, topics related to conflict and security, and Internet tools (a term that includes censorship circumvention tools as well as social media platforms). The majority of countries that censor content do so across all four themes, although the depth of the filtering varies.
This week Internet Monitor visits France, India, Morocco, Kenya, and Cleveland (USA) to check out Internet content controls and online activity during the third week of January!
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.