Social media in government: 8 March to 15 March 2015

Facebook published its Prepare and Respond report last week. Prepare and Respond showcases the best practices of how governments and NGOs use Facebook to better organise and motivate communities before, during and after disasters. The report is 30 pages and highlights how to set up a page, feed it with accurate information, verify information posted to the page from and about the community, tag others involved in the disaster preparation and recovery process, respond to time-sensitive questions, and highlight positive examples from the community about how to deal with and respond to disasters.

International Women's Day (#IWD2015) was 8 March. Social media campaigns across the globe highlighted the success of women in achieving equality as well as areas where more work needs to be done. A campaign initiated in New York, where International Women's Day started in 1909, focused on the hashtag #NotThere, encouraging social media users to replace their avatars with a female silhouette to emphasise there is still much progress to be made. Several celebrities signed and circulated a petition via social media noting that poverty affects women more than men (#PovertyIsSexist.) Google pushed a campaign called #DearMe, encouraging all participants but particularly women to give their younger selves advice. There was (and continues to be) a social media campaign pressuring FIFA to start a women's World Cup (#womenplayfutsalfifa.)

In India, social media continues to engage and irritate government and citizens. 

A BBC documentary on the infamous 2012 Delhi gang rape which put India in the hotspot for the treatment of women, particularly those that experience rape, was released just in time for International Women's Day. The film, India's Daughter, was promptly banned by the Modi government. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the film, which features an interview with one of the rapists, brought shame to India. Aside from the futility of banning a film in a society with a strong tech and social media-savvy sector, the ban led to online outcry around the hashtag #Indiasdaughter both within and outside of India. There was backlash from those who disapproved of the ban as well as a significant group of Indians who felt the BBC was unfairly concentrating on India.

Meanwhile Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) of the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh (featured in Facebook's Prepare and Respond documentation for the community's use of Facebook around cyclone Hudhud last year) encouraged his officials to get on social media. The Chief warned he'd emphasise his ministers' use of social media when reviewing their performance over the coming year. Both Naidu and his son, Lokesh, also in politics, are very active on social media.

In the town of Nagaland in India, authorities have requested a ban on certain Facebook pages from the Ministry of Information after Syed Farid Khan, accused of raping a student from a local women's college, was lynched by a number of individuals who organised the attack on Facebook. Images and even a video of the lynching have been circulated on social media.

The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee or TPCC, a state unit of the Indian National Congress (INC) in the state of Telangana, India, has started a Facebook page and a Twitter campaign (#kcrfakepromises) to track the unfulfilled or "fake promises" made by current Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao. The social media campaign is allegedly in reaction to the rejection of a document detailing a list of such promises delivered to the Chief Minister's team and ignored.

After the December 16th devastating attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School in which terrorists killed 132 school children, Pakistan drafted a 20 point National Action Plan to counteract terrorism. The plan includes creating a committee to counter online terrorism. A critic of the plan thinks that the Pakistani population may lack the internet capacity to necessitate such a committee and suggest that “before we get on to internet and social media, what is needed is better state control of mosques and seminaries...The real danger in Pakistan is from mosques that continue to deliver Friday sermons calling for jihad and extermination of India and America.” There are about 60 banned organisations in Pakistan, and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has banned several online accounts and content distributed by these groups but the PTA's actions are not always transparent or consistent. Federal authorities did not confirm a ban on Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD), and their website can still be accessed online but the JUD chief Hafiz Saeed's Twitter account was suspended two months ago.

China's National People's Congress (NPC) is meeting at Beijing's Great Hall of the People for its annual session from 5 to 15 March. Despite the NPC's lack of any real direct power (the NPC rarely votes on legislation), Chinese authorities have allegedly been keeping their critics offline. Several social media accounts belonging to past dissidents and critics have been suddenly closed. Guangzhou-based rights activist Jia Pin noted, "I think this has to do with the fact that they [Chinese censors] want to tighten the reins on public opinion and debate during the parliamentary sessions....It happened last year as well, but it wasn't as ferocious as this year." Online free speech advocate Wu Bin, known by his digital nickname Xiucai Jianghu, believes the closure of accounts is attached more to who owns the accounts rather than what is posted via the accounts. The level of account closures on Tencent Weibo has been unprecedented in recent history," he said. "In the most extreme case, they also deleted accounts belonging to my wife and my friends...Some people even had accounts deleted that they had never tweeted from."  Jia Pin believes account closures are more linked to content: "I retweeted something on Sina Weibo [on Thursday] about a couple of friends of mine who held up placards in Chongqing complaining about the smog, saying government attempts to fix the air pollution problem hadn't been implemented....My Sina Weibo account was deleted." Percy Alpha, founder of the anti-censorship group GreatFire.org, notes that similar shutdowns are affecting websites more and more as well.

Twitter has opened offices in Hong Kong. Twitter as well as Facebook have noted that Western social networks are in China if only because Chinese use these networks to market their products, services, etc. to Western users. Including its new bureau in Hong Kong, Twitter has opened two offices in Asia so far - Twitter's first Asian office was opened in Jakarta earlier this month. 

Australia's government is hosting talks with US-based social networking giants Facebook, Google, and Google's YouTube to discuss how to combat ISIS internet propaganda. Spokespersons noted that the government hopes the social networks will help censor "extremist content" online. The meeting follows the arrest of two Australian teens at the Sydney airport trying to leave to go fight with ISIS.

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales criticised the Australian federal government's plan to force telecommunication companies store the metadata of every phone and internet user as a "human rights violation." Wales is considering the launch of his new mobile service in Australia. 

Australian Muslim community leader Dr Jamal Rifi claims that ISIS has a slick social media propaganda arm the the Australian government, despite promises, has failed to address. "The Government announced seven months ago some package for at-risk communities, and so far seven months down the track they haven't done anything to promote the ideas and the program and to support our community in combating such radical ideology," he said.  "We need to form a team, Australia team, where all the players also do their best to counter this radicalisation...But we can't do it on our own, and we need to have a true dialogue with government and government officials about what is the best way to do it."

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has earned yet another mocking hashtag when he defended the closing of 150 indigenous communities in Western Australia by explaining taxpayers could not be expected to endorse the #lifestylechoice of community members. A media researcher Michelle Dunne Breen (@DunneBreen) points out that, while the mainstream media too often ignores the plight of Australia's indigenous, social media has given new light (and accuracy) to indigenous issues, citing online personalities like @IndigenousX.

Australian leaders have noted that Facebook and Twitter, as long as they agree to voluntarily remove harmful content, will not fall under the jurisdiction of the new e-Safety (anti-cyberbullying) Commissioner. 

Lastly for this continental nation this week, the Australian Law Reform Commission (‘ALRC’) has submitted changes to privacy laws in light of a recent ruling awarding a woman damages after her ex-boyfriend posted naked pictures of her to Facebook. A quick peek of the guiding principles behind the submission (take notice, Facebook, Twitter, Google, - the document lists social media platforms as "threats" to privacy):

• Principle 1: Privacy is a fundamental value worthy of legal protection
• Principle 2: There is a public interest in protecting privacy
• Principle 3: Privacy should be balanced with other important interests
• Principle 4: Australian privacy laws should meet international standards
• Principle 5: Privacy laws should be adaptable to technological change
• Principle 6: Privacy laws should be clear and certain
• Principle 7: Privacy laws should be coherent and consistent
• Principle 8: Justice to protect privacy should be accessible
• Principle 9: Privacy protection is an issue of shared responsibility

An anonymous government source in Venezuela has admitted that the Venezuelan Military is censoring Twitter and poised to increase its censorship. Using “estela” (wake) software, the military can tell when a specific word is posted or when a user searches for a specific word in social media. According to the source, the military's main interest is in maintaining media control in areas which are strongholds for the current Chavismo regime - the states of Falcón, Barinas, Apure, Portuguesa, and Monagas. The source cited a study the Venezuelan government conducted which suggested that Twitter was hurting their cause within these states, where critical journalists such as Nelson Bocaranda and Sebastiana Barráez have strong followings.

Venezuela's government also (temporarily) blocked the DolarToday mobile-telephone application that allows users to check the black market rate of the US dollar vs. the Venezuelan bolívar. DolarToday confirmed the momentary ban on Twitter last week.

In addition, the president of the National Telecommunications Commission of Venezuela, William Castillo, complained that his Twitter account @Planwac had been blocked by the Venezuelan government. Castillo complained that he would restrict service in the country if his account and its followers were not returned to him.

In the USA, the annual SXSW digital media extravaganza has started. Panels looking at social media and government abound. Check out the lineup here and explore the influencers behind the various presentations. For live updates, follow the hashtags #sxsw and look for events on #socialgov or just #gov. A recent panel discussion brought together leaders from Facebook and Twitter as well as free speech advocate and law professor Jeffrey Rosen to debate the impact of social network censorship on the USA's first Amendment, the right to free speech.

The USA's Union of Concerned Scientists regularly reports on government transparency and US-based "Scientists' freedom to speak" when working at federal agencies or on federally-funded projects. The UCS USA has released their latest report and it now grades not only scientists' access to the media but also the ability of American scientists to share their work and opinions via social media. The UCS recommends letting the scientists speak for themselves as long as they reveal who they are and clarify that their social media profiles represent their personal views and experiences. In addition to proposing a two-page model social media policy, the report recommends the following:

• Federal agencies should develop strong media and social media policies that grant scientists the fundamental right of scientific free speech.
• The Office of Science and Technology Policy should assess agency progress and speak forcefully on the importance of strong and effective media and social media policies.
• Congress should hold agency heads accountable for encouraging the free flow of scientific information to the public.
• The president should make strong and effective agency policies on media and social media a priority.
• Journalists should call out those agencies that block the free flow of information to the public.

A study conducted by the US-based Brookings Institute and commissioned by Google Ideas, revealed that “From September through December 2014, the authors estimate that at least 46,000 Twitter accounts were used by Daesh [ISIS] supporters, although not all of them were active at the same time.” The study, released last week, called for further analysis of ISIS social media efforts, particularly of efforts extending beyond core ISIS leadership. “Previous analyses of Daesh's Twitter reach have relied on limited segments of the overall Daesh social network.” Accounts had an average of 1000 followers - more than most Twitter users - and one in every five Tweeted in English while three-quarters Tweeted in Arabic. The USA is fighting ISIS efforts in Arabic via catchy Internet memes meant to point out the group's hypocrisy; however, this does not appear to be as effective as ISIS's own outreach efforts. The report authors said government and social media companies “must work together to devise appropriate responses to extremism on social media...although discussions of this issue often frame government intervention as an infringement on free speech, in reality, social media companies currently regulate speech on their platforms without oversight or disclosures of how suspensions are applied...” Pro-ISIS groups have also made threats against the heads of social media companies, most notably Jack Dorsey of Twitter.

The federal government in the USA is revising dietary guidelines, and the meat industry is fighting for more positive integration in the revisions via social media via the (less than successful) hashtag #MeatMythcrushers. 

Gearing up for USA Presidential elections in 2016, potential candidates are both promoting themselves and trolling their immediate and potential competitors (e.g. fake Hilary Clinton's social media accounts.) To keep up with these American online shenanigans, check out the Epolitics newsletter.

The April 2015 Government Social Media Conference & Expo in Reno, Nevada is taking names and keeping statistics on the nature of government social media outreach and its bureaucratic hierarchy. One of the organisers, former @GovGirl @kristydalton22 posted that 5% of current attendees signed-up are government Web professionals, and only about 4% have “social media” in their job title. Many more, she notes, are public information officers.

Another increasingly star-studded US event this April (the event has featured endorsements from US celebrities including Will Ferrell, Rachel Maddow, William Shatner, Jerry Seinfeld, Ricky Gervais and Conan O’Brien) are the #shortyawards. The awards reward Twitter users in specific categories for their innovation and creativity. Last year's government category winner was the Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker (@CoryBooker.) Nominees for this year include NASA on social media, NATO on Facebook, and Lockheed Martin, the defence contractor.

Social network Reddit product manager Ryan Merket had announced in a February blog post that the social network would split 10% of its ad revenue ($8.2 million dollars) with 10 charities selected by its users. The winners are in, and US conservatives are appalled by the liberal bias (unexpected, really?) of Reddit users.

Worth a read - Anya Schiffrin Director of International Media, Advocacy and Communications, Columbia University talks about why digital technology does not equal digital democracy. Especially after reading about the future-predicting EMBERS project, her views don't seem too far outside reality.

Lastly in my home country, to the chagrin of the Obama Administration and US Foreign Policy officials, freshman Senator Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) penned, promoted (Tweeted), and posted an open letter to Iranian leaders this week that 47 Republican senators signed. The letter warned that Congress could undo any nuclear deal that's reached between Iranian leader (and US-educated phD recipient) Javad Zarif (@JZarif) and President Obama. Cotton and Jarif exchanged their letters (and their translations) on Twitter, evoking a lot of replies, reTweets, favourites, and general irritation and merriment.

Canadians are all a-Twitter and a-Facebooking after racist remarks by Conservative New Brunswick Member of Parliament John Williamson. Williamson complained that it was silly to pay "whities" to stay home while importing "brown people" to work. Williamson "unreservedly" apologised in a series of Tweets for "us[ing] offensive and inappropriate language regarding the Temporary Foreign Workers Program."  

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) followed up in a 9 March speech criticising Williamson's ruling party and stating that Canadians were being invited to be racist against Muslims. He cited current Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's feelings that women should not cover their face during citizen swearing-in ceremonies and the case of an Islamic woman who was denied a court hearing to repossess her car because she wore a veil. Canadians crowd-sourced the money to get the discriminated-against woman's car back, but she declined the cash (raised in part through social media) and asked the money be donated to those experiencing injustice due to their race or ethnicity. Trudeau's speech, paralleling Harper's actions to darker incidents in Canada's past, stirred up Canadian social media again. 

Across the pond, privacy is still under construction in European legislation. A package of new rules known as the General Data Protection Regulation is under discussion. As presented by the European Commission, the rules would require EU citizens to follow-up on privacy cases in the country where the company violating the privacy regulations is located. This is what Max Schrems (@maxschrems) is doing in his Europe vs. Facebook case, to start in court 9 April, in which he claims Facebook violated European privacy laws (specifically the "safe harbour agreement") when it transferred the data of European citizens to the USA's National Security Agency. The European Commission suggested that where different national regulators disagreed, a new European Data Protection Board could mediate and make recommendations. However, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have asked that the European Data Protection Board be given greater powers - in essence, that the European Data Protection Board become a one-stop shop for all EU privacy disputes.

In a Facebook chat with the European Parliament President Martin Schulz last week, the Parliamentary leader fielded questions about employment and foreign policy - particularly with Russia and Ukraine.

In Brussels on Thursday this past week, an EU plan to fight terrorism online and in social media was presented. The makers of the plan consulted with Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other companies to see how they could fight terrorism online.

The EU representation in Myanmar defended itself on Facebook after Myanmar national police allegedly attacked student protestors in Letpadan. The EU leads crowd-control training for Myanmar police. “The fundamental purpose of the training is to increase the respect of human rights, stress the importance of negotiation and – only as a last resort – consider the use of proportional force,” the statement said. “This was needed, and as events show, this need still remains...Whilst training can be given, the EU cannot make decisions on the ground.”

The Icelandic government withdrew its request to join the EU without the promised national referendum, prompting protests in the capital city and on Facebook. 

In the UK, some influencers are claiming that social networks should be treated as media organisations, especially in light of upcoming elections. While social networks claim to exert no editorial control, personalised social media algorithms plus government and political spending on Facebook and other social network ads suggest otherwise, critics say.

In local social media, the Welsh are vibrating between snarky and aghast (shaken and stirred?) after local leaders refused to allow filming for the upcoming Bond film, Spectre, in the national assembly building, the Senedd. Welsh politicians are Tweeting to distance themselves from the controversy. #assemblybond #seneddbond

Spanish politicians are quickly becoming social media-savvy as this key election year heats up. Local politicians and leaders are using Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook to respond to individual inquiries and comments from citizens and organisations. " WhatsApp has made it’s way on to 99% of the phones in Spain the past four years. 'There’s nothing else like it. It has colonised messaging,' with a Spanish doctor even diagnosing the first known case of WhatsAppitis, a repetitive strain injury caused by texting." 

Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis is in hot water on Greek (and European) social media after French magazine Paris Match did an article on his rather lavish Athens apartment - mentioning that Varoufakis and his industrialist wife are moving to a bigger place in the near future. Greeks are currently in an economic crisis prompting the majority of the country to implement austere economic measures so that they can pay back the EU for bailing them out in 2008. The new Greek government has been attempting to negotiate with the EU to lessen the impact of this economic austerity - though Varoufakis, whose last Tweet criticised "muck-raking journalists," seems less impacted by this economic austerity than his countrymen. Eric Maurice, of the European Journalists Association, tweeted, "Varoufakis has a good lifestyle but very bad PR." For updates on this political and economic blunder in English, follow Syriza edition.

A pro-government Turkish Twitter user going by the pseudonym Esat Ç., allegedly a friend of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's advisors and close to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), wrote in a tweet on last Sunday, “Say goodbye to Baransu, they won't release him this time.” The Tweet cast doubts about whether there will be a fair probe of journalist Mehmet Baransu who was arrested on Monday.

Turkish government whistleblower and social media user Fuat Avni (his social media alias as his/her real identity remains a secret) claimed that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is provoking the rise of the US dollar against the Turkish lira to increase his dollar-based wealth. Fuat Avni has recently been cleared of allegations to assassinate the President's daughter. 

For those interested in social media and politics in Egypt, Adham Youssef (@Adhmyousef) has posted a niece piece detailing the Egyptian radicalised opposition and their social media outreach. Most use social media to brag, to recruit, sometimes to organise, and often to criticise opposition. 

The Algerian activist Rachid Aouine will soon face trial for allegedly trying to incite "an unarmed gathering" via an ironic Facebook post. Aouine commented "Police officers, why don't you go out today to protest against the arbitrary decisions against your colleagues..., instead of controlling the free activists and the protesters against the shale gas?" Human Rights Watch noted that Aouine is in trouble for violating Article 100 of the Algerian penal code, one of three articles which prohibits peaceful protests through writing and speech.

The internationally-recognised Libyan government swore in army commander Khalifa Haftar, one of the most divisive figures in post-revolutionary Libya, this past week during an air raid on the opposing (and not internationally-endorsed) Libyan government. A video of Haftar's ceremony was posted on social media for Libyans (and the international community) to watch. In the video Haftar noted, "We remind the world that our army is fighting terrorism on its behalf."

Pro-government media in Gambia falsely claimed that the US President Barack Obama congratulated Gambian President Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya AJJ Jammeh in a letter last week. The US quickly noted that "We congratulated only the people of The Gambia, and not Jammeh,” sparking Gambian social media mockery of their dictatorial leader. Journalists, expats, and citizens with access to social media Tweeted and Facebooked their own "letters from President Obama" under the hashtag #RealLetterFromObama.

Nigerian terrorist cell Boko Haram has used social media and an online video to claim allegiance to ISIS. 

The Communication Technology Development Department (CTDD) of the governor’s office Special Adviser on Communication Technology Development, Odo Effiong launched a local social media training programme for Nigerian Cross River State employees last week.
“It is easier, cheaper, faster and more effective to engage the society, build relationships, receive feedback and input into government policies, deepen trust and exchange ideas using social media than other more traditional media forms,” Effiong said.

For more reading, I recommend #commoncore - CPRE: Innovative Twitter study reveals how social media is changing the politics of education. The presentation of the report is great. 

A tool worth exploring? Several Spanish leaders seem to think so: Loomio - collaborative decision-making. 

To hear updates follow @Linda_Margaret on Twitter or subscribe to my weekly newsletter on social media and government via this link.