In France, the terrorist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo sparked the trending hashtag #jesuischarliehebdo in support of the victims. The hacker group Anonymous announced via their Belgian social media account that they are declaring war against the terrorists.
In an international survey of writers, PEN, a US-based literary and human rights organisation, noted that 31% of social media users in democratic countries as well as 41% in non-democratic countries have actually avoided activity on social media for fear of government surveillance.
In the USA, the International Conference on Cyber Security hosted Ali Kazemi, associate general counsel at Tumblr. Kazemi noted that "Our primary goal [at Tumblr] is protecting our users and protecting the platform,” he said. “Working with law enforcement is a sort of neutral secondary obligation. At least that’s how we view it."
At the same time, US social media users better trust their network. An American federal court ruled in Palmieri v. United States that if a member of a social media user's network shares content from his or her friend with law enforcement, there has been no violation of privacy.
Speaking of privacy, it is not something enjoyed by public officials in the USA. Via a Facebook comment, a Maryland lawmaker threatened to sue a journalist for using his name in an article. The journalist protested (also via Facebook) that she had a right to write about elected leaders. After he was ridiculed in traditional as well as social media for his lack of knowledge with regard to the rights of the American media, the official made a public apology to the journalist.
Eight vehicles belonging to the Venezuelan state telephone company CANTV were destroyed last week, causing a ripple in national social media. Opposition party leaders were careful to distance their party from the attack and claimed that the governing party used social networks to spread malicious rumours regarding the opposition's involvement in the destruction.
The London public vented their ire about overcrowding on London Bridge station on social media. British transport authorities chastised Network Rail, which has promised to remedy the situation.
Hungary saw another government protest online and offline this week, led by Zsolt Várady, the founder of a one-time social media website iWiW and the current leader of the “MostMi” (Now we) social movement.
In Kenya in the town of Machakos, Governor @DrAlfredMutua used Twitter to chastise the New Year Concert promoter who ripped off several local artists.
In Burundi, local soldiers killed 100 alleged rebels along the Congolese border. The Legal representative of the Forum for Strengthening Civil Society in Burundi noted with concern that the government may not have been entirely honest in its description of the violence and that the opposition party has shown support for the government's attack via social media.
Egyptian Roads and Bridges Department Head Ashraf Helmy claimed early last week that social media photos showing huge cracks in the 6 October Bridge were inaccurate. He noted that the photos instead showed "longitudinal expansions" and explained these "expansions" would be fixed as soon as possible.
In Turkey, pro-government trolls in social media supported and pro-government press was at best lukewarm in reaction to the terrorist attacks in Paris. The pro-government social media troll Esat Ç. tweeted that an attack on a religion is greater terrorism than an armed attack. The pro-government newspaper Türkiye ran a story with the headline, “Attack on the magazine that insulted our Prophet.”
Taliban social media joined other Afghans in social media jokes about the current government's inability to form a Cabinet. In line with the current cold climate in Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid allegedly tweeted "Perhaps the cabinet is frozen!"
UAE leader Shaikh Mohammad, one of the top ten world leaders on Twitter, led the social media campaign "Thank you Guardians of the Nation" in honour of the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE military has has participated in bombing missions against ISIS.
In addition to making their sites more mobile, India's leaders are creating their own version of Google Hangouts, called "Talkathon," to better engage with citizens.
Last week Indian officials unblocked several sites (weebly.com, vimeo.com, dailymotion.com and gist.github.com) that have been blocked since November for hosting jihadist recruitment material.
Mumbai police blocked re-posts of Charlie Hebdo cartoons via social media.
Pakistan is considering legislation to limit social media following the deadly terrorist attacks on a school in Peshawar.
In China, the People's Daily, a mouthpiece for the ruling party, included an article that asked Chinese to be "good netizens." "We need young netizens to shoulder the responsibility of morality and consciously practice socialist core values online." At the same time, Chinese authorities sought to minimise social media coverage of the deadly New Year's stampede in Shanghai where several people died when people stampeded in reaction to a company tossing coupons that looked like money into the air. Chinese leadership also accidentally admitted to purchasing malware despite legislation forbidding it.
Indonesian professor Rosnida Sari cancelled plans to speak in a Catholic Church as part of her attempt to promote interfaith interaction after being bullied and threatened in Indonesian social media.
A Philippine nurse in Singapore was fired and kicked out of the country after posting comments critical of the Singapore government on Facebook. As a result, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration is considering adding social media training to its pre-departure seminars.
Despite spending several million on listening to Australians in social media, the government in Queensland warned public officials to be careful about their "political commentary" in social media.
The government of the Solomon Islands promised the social media pressure group Forum Solomon Islands International (FSII) that it's top ten priorities will be in an upcoming policy document.
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