First up, this upcoming week may be Social Media Week in your country. Check out opportunities to participate here.
Many Muslims on social media are observing the Christian holiday of Lent, in which believers give up something in honour of their faith. Check out the people participating via the social media hashtag #Muslims4lent. The trend kicked off with US-based Muslims but has grown to include Muslims across the globe.
This March Nigerians will elect their next President. The elections have been postponed once already, and Nigerians on social media have not been kind to the current President Goodluck Jonathan (@presgoodluck). For example, when Jonathan removed a fuel subsidy last year, Nigerians used Twitter to organise massive protests online and offline via the hashtag #OccupyNigeria. But Jonathan himself has been neglectful of the social media space - to his detriment. Despite first announcing his plans to run in 2011 on his Facebook page, the present Nigerian President has since neglected social media engagement (witness his Twitter account, abandoned in May 2011 after only 32 Tweets). Yet Jonathan's main challenger Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (@ThisIsBuhari) has an active social media presence and over 119 thousand followers - his Twitter account has even been verified and Buhari initials Tweets that he himself writes. Buhari's running mate Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (@ProfOsinbajo) is also no slouch on social media, with over 78 thousand followers and another official Twitter verification. Meanwhile, President Jonathan left his social media engagement in the hands of some allegedly social-media challenged subordinates, Dr. Doyin Okupe and Reno Omokri. A humorous Twitter poll that recently asked "retweet if you won’t be voting president Jonathan because of Omokri and Okupe” got over 300 reTweets. With over 67 million Nigerians online, one local expert notes that "social media is Nigeria’s new [electoral] battleground." Meanwhile Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, the Head of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria [HURIWA] and a Federal Commissioner in the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission [NHRC], has posted a piece asking Nigerians to be considerate online and avoid hate speech - particularly in the lead up to the March elections.
In Europe, many social media users are following the somewhat controversial hashtag #Grexit to stay on top of negotiations around the Greek bailout between the new Greek government leaders and the rest of the European Union Member Countries.
The head of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin received a death threat on his Facebook page just days after an anti-Semitic attack in Copenhagen. The Rabbi has been very critical of European governments and their efforts to reduce anti-Semitism and violent attacks against Jews.
On top of that, two weeks ago President Obama suggested in an interview that Europe's hardline stance on privacy is sometimes more linked to the interests of Europe's commercial entities rather than its citizens. Obama said, "In defence of Google and Facebook, sometimes the European response here is more commercially-driven than anything else. As I've said, there are some countries like Germany, given its history with the Stasi, that are very sensitive to these issues. But sometimes their vendors--their service providers who, you know, can't compete with ours--are essentially trying to set up some roadblocks for our companies to operate effectively there." Ramon Tremosa, a Catalan member of the European Parliament responded in a Financial Times interview this past week that, “President Obama forgets or maybe isn’t aware that among the dozens of complainants in the Google antitrust case, there are several US companies. Some companies, like Yelp, have no problem going public. Others don’t want to attack Google openly because they fear retaliation measures, such as demotion/exclusion and penalties supposedly applied by Google to some rival companies...” The EU Commissioner on Competition, Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) told the Wall Street Journal that Obama's statement was "a view...Google is big and Facebook is big is that they deliver something that people like… That suggests that this marketplace is very dynamic and volatile, if someone comes up with another thing. That comes back to the fact that you should have an open, competitive market. And that comes back to enforcement of competition law, that if you’re big and successful, well then you shouldn’t misuse that position to keep competitors out. Because then maybe the next thing is a European, and maybe we will then also have enough venture capital to make them stay in Europe and develop their business here." Joining the debate, a US-based lawyer takes another look at the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Report (officially, the “Report on the US NSA surveillance programme, surveillance bodies in various Member States and their impact on EU citizens fundamental rights and on transatlantic cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs”). The American lawyer claims the LIBE Report used concerns about the USA's National Security Agency's collection of private data to suggest investing more in European ICT to reduce Europe's current reliance on US technology and communication companies.
Ireland's new Data Commissioner Helen Dixon oversees the European base of several social networking companies. The EU's proposed new data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, might let Dixon charge social networks up to 5% of their annual revenue if the (proposed) law is breached. Dixon has suggested she'll prove Ireland can protect European privacy: "Some of these phrases have been bandied about and repeated: 'soft regulator', 'forum shopping'...I don't think it is going to be easy ... but I think over time the tide is going to turn," Dixon said.
Ireland's new Data Commissioner Helen Dixon oversees the European base of several social networking companies. The EU's proposed new data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, might let Dixon charge social networks up to 5% of their annual revenue if the (proposed) law is breached. Dixon has suggested she'll prove Ireland can protect European privacy: "Some of these phrases have been bandied about and repeated: 'soft regulator', 'forum shopping'...I don't think it is going to be easy ... but I think over time the tide is going to turn," Dixon said.
The UK news portal and paper The Guardian is offering a debate 10 March on how to protect yourself from government-based hackers.
The UK's privacy watchdog released a report this past week pointing out that the UK is the worst European offender when it comes to cookie use online. Placed inside users' browsers and computers, cookies let websites, social networks, companies, etc. track user behaviour online. The UK sites place an average of 44 cookies in a user's PC. Yet UK cookie-users aren't all bad - 94% of the British companies using cookies explain what they are and what they mean to their users, versus only 74% of other European countries. This is in line with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) – a UK implementation of the EU-wide e-Privacy Directive.
UKIP, the UK Independence Party, known for its anti-EU sentiments, has made the news twice this week due to poorly-considered social media posts. The UKIP Parliamentary candidate Donald Grewar allegedly endorsed homophobic and anti-Islam posts by the far-right British National Party and the English Defence League. Grewar has since deleted his social media reactions and resigned. Then the UKIP’s Newport branch Facebook group manager posted an image incorporating the EU flag with the Nazi swastika. This image has also been removed.
In Belgium, which has contributed the highest per capita number in Europe of individuals fighting in IS or affiliate groups, an Arabic speaker used his Facebook page to investigate IS social media recruitment techniques. Pieter Van Ostaeyen's work has supposedly helped Belgian police, but he has since made his position public and participated in an interview with Bloomberg last week, detailing what he's learned. Apparently, it's bigger than just social media recruitment strategies. “I’m not a sociologist or an anthropologist; I don’t know what can be done, but I do believe we need a more inclusive society,” he explained. “We need to live together instead of living in two completely different worlds.”
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visited several social media companies in California last week to ask for direct help in combatting terrorists and violent extremism. "We emphasized that when an investigation is underway we don't want to go through the usual government to government channels, which can take so long," Cazenueve said after meeting with the different companies. "It's important to have full cooperation and quick reaction" he explained. New French regulations will allow France to block online content that the government feels is dangerous, but France has expressed the hope that the companies themselves will block such content without France needing to intervene.
Greece continues to negotiate its bailout with EU leaders. Protests in support of the current anti-austerity Greek government have continued both online and off, with protestors gathering in Greece, Edinburgh, London, and Amsterdam, among others. You can follow the protests online via the hashtag #mazi ("together" in Greek).
Despite a proclaimed ceasefire, in Ukraine, the defence Ministry last Monday posted to Facebook that there had been another 38 attacks - most of which involved Grad multiple rocket launchers and mortars. Even with the continuing violence, there has been a successful prisoner exchange. The Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted the exchange of 152 Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for 52 rebels. This is the first successfully completed step in the 12 February Minsk agreements, brokered by France and Germany.
The study Benchmarking Public Demand: Russia's Appetite for Internet Control released this week had the following key findings:
Greece continues to negotiate its bailout with EU leaders. Protests in support of the current anti-austerity Greek government have continued both online and off, with protestors gathering in Greece, Edinburgh, London, and Amsterdam, among others. You can follow the protests online via the hashtag #mazi ("together" in Greek).
Despite a proclaimed ceasefire, in Ukraine, the defence Ministry last Monday posted to Facebook that there had been another 38 attacks - most of which involved Grad multiple rocket launchers and mortars. Even with the continuing violence, there has been a successful prisoner exchange. The Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted the exchange of 152 Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for 52 rebels. This is the first successfully completed step in the 12 February Minsk agreements, brokered by France and Germany.
The study Benchmarking Public Demand: Russia's Appetite for Internet Control released this week had the following key findings:
- Almost half (49%) of all Russians believe that information on the Internet needs to be censored;
- A plurality (42%) of Russians believe foreign countries are using the Internet against Russia and its interests. About one-quarter of Russians think the Internet threatens political stability (24%);
- About four out of five Russians (81%) stated a negative feeling toward calls to protest against the government and change political leadership;
- The Russian government and the Russian security service were virtually tied in the percentage of Russians (42% and 41% respectively) that cited these organizations as trusted regulators of the Internet;
- 51% of Russian believe the primary motivation of government legislation creating a blacklist of websites is the maintenance of political stability versus 13% who believe the primarily motivation was limiting democratic freedoms;
- 39% of Russian believe personal blogs should be regulated the same as mass media websites.
The study, which suggests that Russian leaders aim to use the national media to sow distrust against foreign media, was done by the US-based Center for Global Communication Studies. The Center describes itself as an "academic-practitioner partnership reaching across borders and supporting communications scholarship in the service of democratic values" via its Twitter account.
Turkey continues to make social media headlines. Videos of a brawl in the Turkish Parliament made its way into social networks. The Parliament was debating a new bill which will give additional surveillance powers to government agents and allow police to arrest protestors wearing masks, among other things.
Turkey continues to make social media headlines. Videos of a brawl in the Turkish Parliament made its way into social networks. The Parliament was debating a new bill which will give additional surveillance powers to government agents and allow police to arrest protestors wearing masks, among other things.
Turkey's current administration and its proponents continue to harass its critics in social media. This past week, Üsküdar Municipality used its Twitter account to cancel a book signing of author Murat Menteş. Menteş, a former journalist at the pro-government Yeni Şafak daily, allegedly criticised the government's reaction to the Soma mining incident, in which several miners died in an accident that traditional government precautions might have prevented. Menteş responded to the cancellation as well as the many trolls attacking his Twitter account in an article in which he said, "I've apparently made a speech… in which, apparently, I have made ‘gross' insulting remarks towards the president. … Apparently, I have insulted the people. … Well, what can I say? This is life.” Kadri Gürsel, another Turkish journalist harassed on Twitter as well as elsewhere, has filed a criminal complaint with the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against a fellow journalist who has, allegedly, been making baseless accusations against Gürsel, supposedly as a result of Gürsel's criticism of the current Turkish government.
Meanwhile, Idris Bal, the leader of the opposition party, the Democratic Progress Party (DPG in Turkish), has claimed that pro-government supporters are harassing his party's networks on social media as well as offline. “They threatened people we invited to a breakfast event. Some were even summoned by the police. They were so intimidated that they no longer dare answer our phone calls. Some sincere friends also told me the pressure they were subjected to.” This is making it hard for the DPG to set up a strong campaign prior to the June elections.
The brutal rape and murder of a young Turkish woman two weeks ago has spawned two social media campaigns to support women in Turkey. First #sendeanlat (tell your story) encourages women who have experienced sexual harassment to share their experiences online. Next, #Özgecaniçinsiyahgiy (Wear Black For Özgecan) asks users to wear black in honour of Özgecan Aslan, the woman killed.
In Libya, social media images of IS flags outside a university in the centre of the country along with videos of IS soldiers beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians (who had been living in Libya) suggest IS is growing in power in the state.
Egypt launched aerial bombings in response to the beheadings of the Egyptian Copts. "It was the first time Egypt confirmed launching air strikes against the group in neighbouring Libya."
The Jordanian politician Zaki Bani Rushaid, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was sentenced to a year and 5 months in prison for criticising the United Arab Emirates, a neighbouring country, on social media.
The UAE is holding its much-anticipated International Government Communication Forum (#IGCF15). In addition to encouraging social media participation via contests and a social media corner, the UAE is hosting a number of social media government luminaries. The former Australian leader Julia Gillard has already spoken about her social media experience, as has former EU President Jose Manuel Barroso, and Deputy Supreme Commander NATO Europe 2010-2014 General Sir Richard Shirreff, among others.
The American and Philippine families of three individuals detained for alleged tax crimes in Mongolia have initiated social media campaigns to draw attention to the plight of their family members. The campaigns claim that the three detainees have not received due process under Mongolian law. You can find an iPetition to free the American, Justin Kapla, here. Find the petition for the Philippines Hilarion Cajucom Jr. here and for Cristobal David here.
The Indian government is holding live talk sessions on YouTube every two weeks in which high-level officials respond to questions from the public submitted via social media. A senior official explained the initiative, "The idea is not just to interact with people but also to answer their difficult questions. Policymakers are thinking hard before taking every decision and the thought process has to be conveyed to people." The first live exchange on YouTube was held 16 February with a "power minister" from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, who answered questions for 30 minutes. Continuing the engagement, the next interviews will include the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, after they present their respective budgets.
Indian Prime Minister Modi gave a speech at a church-organised function asking Indians to join him in religious tolerance. "Everyone has the undeniable right to retain or adopt the religion of his or her choice, without coercion or undue influence." His speech, coming a bit late in his administration and right after a visit from US President Barack Obama - who has implied India could do better with regard to religious tolerance, has spawned a hashtag to debate the Prime Minister's sincerity: #Secular-Modi.
The leader of the Indian Communist party Govind Pansare was shot in Kolhapur and later died in the hospital, inciting a hail of social media criticism against the local BJP leaders from Pansare's supporters. Social media activists criticised the police for not preventing the event and for lacking any clear suspects in the murder.
Taking advantage of a scandal plaguing the ruling BJP, the Indian Congress party has initiated a social media campaign condemning doctors who pay to pass their medical entrance exams. Posting cartoons showcasing poorly-skilled doctors, the campaign uses the hashtag #Vyapam to warn Indian netizens about the dangers of medical charlatans. The Vyapam is a Pre Medical Test Board set up to screen candidates seeking to continue their medical studies.
Lastly (for India this week), in the Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram in the state of Kerala, the state police have requested that the government strike a memorandum of understanding with the big social media companies to help track, identify, and prosecute cybercriminals.
The Lao Youth Union in Bokeo warned young people not to criticise the government on social media. The warning referenced a 2014 government decree, numbered 327, that forbid all youth groups at the provincial and district levels, police and army departments, schools, hospitals, state enterprises and other offices from attacking the government on social media. Strangely, the decree reportedly bans the "Like" button on Facebook.
After reportedly being recruited via social media, a 14-year-old girl in Malaysia involved herself in an IS militant group arrested at Kuala Lumper international airport. The education activist Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim (head of Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia) called for schools to warn students against the dangers of IS. Parents were also asked to pay attention to their children's activities on social media. Government figures further cited a law under consideration next month that will expand the government's surveillance powers and institute a counselling and training system to help guide individuals away from extremism.
A growing subset of Japanese social media reacted to the IS beheadings of two Japanese citizens by mocking IS through photoshopped images shared via social media using the hashtag #ISISクソコラグランプ ("ISIS crappy collage grand prix"). The goal of the campaign is to ridicule ISIS. As one Japanese Twitter user noted, "The message of #ISISクソコラグランプリ is “You can kill some of us, but Japan is a peaceful and happy land, with fast Internet. So go to hell.”
Australia is committing AU$18million to monitor and analyse social media to combat terrorist propaganda. "The government is taking a dynamic approach to its communications to better contest the online environment where terrorists are actively distributing their messages. This will include promoting material online that challenges the claims of terrorists and shares the benefits of Australia's diversity, inclusion, democracy, and social values," Attorney-General George Brandis said in a statement. "The fight against terrorist groups like ISIL is taking place online as they continue to weaponise information and spread their messages of hate and violence through social media. The Combating Terrorist Propaganda in Australia initiative is part of the Australian government's approach to challenging this dangerous propaganda."
Australia is seeking to save two Australians, Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31 from the death penalty in Indonesia. The two are alleged members of the Bali 9, a group that sought to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia. Convicted in 2005, the two are scheduled to die in the coming weeks if not days. Australians in support of saving the two from execution have started the hashtag #BoycottBali to discourage tourists from visiting the popular island destination in protest.
The Canadian police used social media to track down three students who allegedly aimed to commit mass murder this past Valentine's Day. One of the three, who committed suicide prior to being caught, posted to social media about his admiration of the 1999 Columbine school shooting in the USA.
In Calgary, Extreme Dialogue, a programme designed to encourage students to talk about the dangers of radicalisation, was launched this week. The programme urges students to share what they learn on social media to prevent further radicalisation. Originally Extreme Dialogue focused on all forms of radicalisation, but recently it has focused more and more on IS.
Veteran Liberal MP Stéphane Dion has written a letter to Treasury Board President Tony Clement asking that Canadian government figures communicating via social media conform to the Official Languages Act and share the same information in both official Canadian languages (French and English.)
In the USA, the White House held its “Countering Violent Extremism” summit this past week and announced its plans to counter extremism in social media. In addition to posting extreme violent content, IS social media has been remarkably skilled in creating positive social media content designed to attract users to the IS lifestyle as portrayed on social media. At a meeting in Washington DC last Wednesday, experts met to discuss how to discredit the IS brand on social media. The Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications will manage Twitter accounts across the government and also coordinate with Muslim academics, scholars, and community leaders who oppose IS in the aim of providing viable alternatives to vulnerable individuals online. The newly created Information Coordination Cell will coordinate operations on social media. The White House also noted that government officials will work alongside social media company partners to run "technology camps" to “work with governments, civil society and religious leaders to develop digital content that discredits violent extremist narratives and amplifies positive alternatives.” In addition, the US will partner with the UAE to create a “digital communications hub that will counter ISIL’s propaganda and recruitment efforts, both directly and through engagement with civil society, community, and religious leaders.”
Congress joined the White House in particularly critiquing Twitter for its unintentional aid to IS. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, the chair of a House foreign affairs subcommittee on terrorism, noted “there is frustration with Twitter specifically" over the social network's inability or unwillingness to shut down IS accounts quickly enough. Twitter, which has suspended some 800 alleged IS accounts since autumn, responded, “Like our peer companies, we do not proactively monitor content. We review all reported content against our rules, which prohibit unlawful use and direct, specific threats of violence against others. Users report potential rules violations to us, we review their reports and take action if the content violates our rules.”
As part of the event on countering extreme terrorism, the US State Department asked Twitter users for their ideas on how to combat terrorism. The request resulted in general ridicule of the State Department, e.g. users Tweeted "What are we paying you for?" and "Is this for real?" with a few users chiming in with more sincere responses.
In the USA, Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush hired and fired his new chief technology officer in three days for improper social media output. Ethan Czahor, who lost his job only two days after he got it, had posted Tweets - ostensibly during his university days - calling various women sluts and picking on homosexuals.
Schools in the USA are beginning to work out how much access they have to students' social media accounts. Amidst concerns with cyberbullying and school violence, some schools have requested student passwords to social media accounts - a possible violation of students' 1st Amendment Rights. The Illinois' Right to Privacy in the School Setting Act, which became law in January 2014, required school administrators to notify parents that schools have "the right to request or require a student to provide a password or other related account information" to access a student social-media account if the school has "reasonable cause" to believe the account "contains evidence that the student has violated a school disciplinary rule or policy." Other states are considering or participating in similar actions including paying third parties to monitor students' public posts, though there are concerns about how much liability school officials will accept for what they learn.
At the university level, a study from the University at Buffalo School of Management called Factors impacting the adoption of social network sites for emergency notification purposes in universities noted that social media was an effective way to spread information to students during a university crisis.
In Seattle, police chief Katherine O'Toole published an official social media policy stating that officers are not allowed to post negative comments related to their work on private social media accounts. Using the United States Supreme Court case Garcetti V. Ceballos as the basis for her power to do so, the police chief and her team created the policy amidst controversy over racist Tweets and Facebook posts by two Seattle police officers.
The mayor of Caracas, Venezuela's capital city, was arrested in a raid on his office early last week where he was, proponents claim, dragged away "like a dog." The mayor Antonio Ledezma (@alcaldeledezma ) is an outspoken opponent of Venezuela's current government. As his office was surrounded, the mayor Tweeted, "My office is being raided in this moment by various police from the regime." Images of the arrest were caught on camera and shared widely via social media. Venezuelan officials claim the mayor is potentially involved in an attempted coup supported by the USA. Venezuelans and external leaders - including former US President Bill Clinton - that support the mayor have organised protests online and offline demanding the mayor's release. Venezuela is scheduled to hold legislative elections later this year and the current President's approval ratings are very low (22 percent.)
A marketing study in Brazil notes that 8 in every 10 Brazilian social networkers are between the ages of 18 and 34.
A marketing study in Brazil notes that 8 in every 10 Brazilian social networkers are between the ages of 18 and 34.
Want more? Check out Measuring government impact in a social media world by the OECD. Read the blog and download the paper.
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