Stories about Censorship from February, 2019
Journalists, teachers, and activists targeted in attacks on free speech in the Philippines
"These are attempts by those in power to drown out the voice of the marginalized...displaying Duterte’s fear of committed journalism that seeks to inform, educate and guide the public."
As Putin preaches ‘sovereignty’ and tech modernization, experts lament loss of online freedoms
As Vladimir Putin promises Russians a faster, more reliable internet, two reports by independent expert groups paint an unrelentingly bleak picture of more crackdowns on online freedom of speech.
Samoa arrested blogger ‘King Faipopo’ accused of defaming prime minister
"New legislation, based on old criminal libel laws from colonial times, forces Samoa leaders to look backwards, not forwards."
Netizen Report: Both Bangladesh and South Korea are waging a ‘war on porn’ — and paving the way for political censorship
South Korea and Bangladesh are blocking porn and "obscene" content, Venezuela is blocking YouTube, and Uzbekistan has finally stopped blocking Facebook and VK.
EU proposal pushes tech companies to tackle ‘terrorist content’ with AI, despite implications for war crimes evidence
AI tools can assess whether a video is violent or graphic. But can they determine the video’s intended purpose?
Censored on WeChat: As tensions in China-US trade conflict rose, so did WeChat censorship
The second installment in our series looks at the most censored topic in the 2018 WeChatscope dataset: the China-US trade war.
Venezuelans see the politics of humanitarian aid play out in online attacks
A unique and technically sophisticated attack this week targeted VoluntariosxVenezuela, an opposition-aligned humanitarian aid website.
Netizen Report: Will India’s regional internet shutdowns ever end?
Internet shutdowns continue apace in India, Venezuela's opposition websites are under pressure and Uganda's social media tax is driving down internet use.
Users flood Reddit with China censorship memes, balk at $150 million investment from Tencent
While Chinese companies regularly invest in US media companies, this makes for an unusual match.
Censored on WeChat: A year of content removals on China's most powerful social media platform
Our team tracked censored posts from more than 4,000 public accounts covering daily news on WeChat. Here is what we found.
Russian ‘anti-fake news’ bill rushed through parliament despite vocal opposition
Both the "anti-fake news" bill and its twin initiative against offending the authorities use Germany and other Western countries' laws as inspiration.
With tensions rising ahead of 2019 presidential elections, Nigerians fear internet shutdown
The use of social media to call attention to the government's violations and illegal actions have led to fears that of online censorship in upcoming elections.
Netizen Report: How Venezuela’s political crisis is playing out online
As Venezuelans continue to face internet censorship, Turkmenistan is blocking Google Play, Lebanon is blocking Grindr and Brazil is chipping away at is FOI law.
