Monday, May 18, 2015

Social media in government: 12 May to 18 May

Summary

Europe and Google continue to wrestle over the extent and implementation of the right to be forgotten ruling - some interesting stats in this week's newsletter.  The new UK Government revives the so-called "Snooper's Charter" and reforms the "Prevent" strategy (for countering online terrorism) with little friction from the non-existent opposition in Parliament. Belgium's privacy watchdog is unhappy with Facebook. The Swedish police are under examination for allegedly threatening a controversial YouTube sensation. The FYRM / Macedonia citizens are protesting after online and offline over corruption revealed in leaked wiretaps.

Ghanaian officials are mad that citizens are criticising the Government in social media. Burundi had a coup - or did it? And the (non-)revolution was Instagrammed and Tweeted. Nigerians are scamming Nigerians online when it comes to the proposed ministers in the new Government. Zimbabwe's authorities are worried about the future of journalism when it comes to social media. South African government workers are questioning their unions in social media.
Turkey is fining teachers who posted about Gezi to Facebook. Iranians and Saudi Arabians are in a Twitter propaganda war after a young woman's suicide. Israel wants more Internet scrubbing when it comes to Holocaust deniers. Egypt is angry over a Tweet from an erstwhile popular British Ambassador. IS is Tweeting the invasion in Iraq. The UAE released sisters guilty of a Twitter campaign to free their brother.

China is prosecuting a human rights lawyer who allegedly incited ethnic hatred" and "picked quarrels and provoked trouble” on Weibo. Azerbaijan will host the inaugural European Olympic Games in Baku in June - and social media activists have hijacked the hashtag to raise issues about human rights in Azerbaijan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hitting his first year in office anniversary - just as his opponent in the capital city is finishing up his first 100 days (so the hashtags and accusations are flying online.) Meanwhile Indian states are in equal measure embracing and critiquing social media branding. Nauru has still banned Facebook, despite global criticism, and their response to the debate is a Tweet. Australia passed teh 2015 budget and there is money for online counter-terrorism and social media monitoring as well as to help telcos foot the bill for saving user data for possible Government inspection. Plus an interesting look at New Zealand's dirty politics in social media (a conservative blogger and an aide to the Prime Minister. Interested? Scroll down...)

In Canada in the state of Alberta, a new Government has usurped the local powers who are shredding an awful lot of documents before they leave the office, inspiring the interest of local social media - and eventually the media. The USA may spend more money on social media counter-terrorism after a bit of an embarrassing review of their efforts thus far. Puerto Rico has a independent candidate for Governor relying entirely on social media for her support. And Jeb Bush got schooled by a University of Nevada student who is an overnight online meme. Oh, and the US President FINALLY has a personal Twitter account....

And Guatemalans are protesting corruption and still demanding their President's resignation (the VP has already resigned.)

Then a look at a tool out this summer and two nice reports on social media compliance issues in the USA and social media freedom globally.

Next week, no newsletter or blog.  


I'm travelling and I will also spend my free time trying to arrange this blog so that users can search per country. I'm not sure I can do it yet, but I have been trying my hand at simple coding and I think I'm up to the challenge. To stay current despite my week off, follow this blog on Facebook or follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Feel free to connect with me on any one of these platforms.


Europe

Google is still resisting the whole "right to be forgotten (rtbf)" ruling by the European Court of Justice. The ruling allows private (not public - though private vs. public remains to be clearly defined...) individuals to have Google remove search results related to their names. This involves "just" removing the search results - not the source material (the articles that underlie the search results. Getting a search result removed from Google akin to removing all mention of a chapter in a book's table of contents while still keeping the chapter, unchanged, where it is.) Google has fought to keep this "search delisting" country-specific. That is, the rtbf ruling would only apply to EU countries (Google.fr, Google.be) not to the general Google search (Google.com). However, European data protection regulators are of the opinion that the ruling should extend to all of Google.com. (Yes, the EU wants to regulate the Internet...or at least, the bits of the Internet that impact Europeans...so the Internet...?) A recent article in Techcrunch takes a look at Google's official reasons for permitting or refusing individual requests for search delistings and corroborates this with data from Reputation VIP (), an online reputation management company that runs the service Forget.me to help individuals file rtbf requests. Interestingly, a lot of the requests are related to social media privacy invasions and most of Google's refusals are related to requests to remove information about professional activity (which is, arguably in the public's interest and thus should not be delisted from public search.) More data:


Sources: +TechCrunch

The United Kingdom


With Theresa May as Secretary of State for the Home Department and a majority Conservative Parliament, the so-called Snooper’s Charter (the Communications Data Bill) may soon be revived, says British social media. The relevant legislation would require all Internet Service Providers to retain mobile phone and Internet records for all users for at least 12 months. 

Sources: @BetaNews

The new Conservative budget allegedly includes $35-40 million USD for counter-terrorism efforts, which will include outreach and (anti?) propaganda via social media. The UK police force is also pushing to avoid cuts affecting the regular policemen in the UK. Beat policemen are essential to keeping communities safe - including from terrorism, officials argue. The UK's counter-terrorism chief estimates that over half of the 700 British who have traveled to join IS have returned.

Sources: +Daily Mail, +The Guardian

Finally, the UK Conservative Government has noted that they will reform the "Prevent" strategy to better counter terrorism online and off. “We have already reformed the Prevent strategy so that it focuses on non-violent as well as violent extremism. We will now go even further. We will outlaw groups that foment hate with the introduction of new Banning Orders for extremist organisations. These could be applied to dangerous organisations that fall short of the existing thresholds for proscription under terrorism legislation.  To restrict the harmful activities of extremist individuals, we will create new Extremism Disruption Orders. These new powers might, for instance, prevent those who are seeking to radicalise young British people online from using the internet or communicating via social media.”

Sources: +BuzzFeed,

 

Belgium


Belgium’s privacy watchdog said. Belgium’s Privacy Protection Commission (CPVP/CBPL), proclaimed “Facebook tramples on European and Belgian privacy laws” in a statement released last week. “Facebook has shown itself particularly miserly in giving precise answers,” the Commission said. The Commission noted that the results of a study on Facebook’s privacy regulations update in January by a group of researchers were “disconcerting”. “Facebook is already regulated in Europe and complies with European data protection law, so the applicability of the CBPL’s efforts are unclear,” a spokeswoman from Facebook responded. 

Sources: +tech2 

Sweden

In Sweden, a native of Somali descent known for dressing up as a policeman and making sensationalist YouTube videos mocking how Swedish police racially profile citizens like himself made a video claiming that, after his last staged incident, Swedish police took him into the woods and threatened him. Swedish police officials claim that they are investigating his claims.

Sources: +BBC Trending

 

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia / Macedonia

Macedonians gathered in the capital Skopje Sunday to demand the resignation of the current Prime Minister. Macedonian social media has been very critical of the release of wiretapped conversations of the opposition party head (mentioned in this blog in late March.) The conversations demonstrate widespread corruption across all levels of Government - from the mismanagement of funds to attempted cover-ups of high crime.
Sources: +The Guardian 

 

Africa

 

Ghana

In Ghana, officials have complained that netizens are using social media to criticise the President. Authorities in the Presidential office have said that this sort of criticism is disrespectful, often engaging with netizens in arguments that only result in more netizen frustration with the Ghanaian Presidency. However, democracy advocates feel that the Government of Ghana might just be a little too sensitive - and a little to quick to react in a negative manner to social media commentary. “Once you open yourself up for such an engagement [in social media], you should be prepared to receive what people will say. I’m not suggesting that people should use that platform to insult the President or insult officials at the Presidency but so long as people are engaging with issues, so long as people are expressing their views which may be contrary from what is coming from the Presidency, I don’t see anything wrong or I don’t see that to be a disrespect,” Head of Programmes at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Dr. Franklin Oduro, explained in an interview with Citi News.

Sources: @CDDGhana, @TheGhanaWeb

 

Burundi

A potential coup unfolded in the troubled state of Burundi (and then folded back up again.) There, as covered in this blog last week and the week before, the two-term President Pierre Nkurunziza (@PierreNkurunziz) wanted to stand for an un-Constitutional third term. Protests erupted throughout the country, many organised (and promoted globally) via social networks like Facebook,Twitter and Whatsapp. Nkurunziza moved to shut down all social networks to forestall further protests. Despite that, “I do think that the revolution has, in fact, been tweeted,” said Cara Jones (@ProfCaraJones), an assistant professor of political science at Mary Baldwin College and an expert on Burundi. Burundi's Maj. Gen. Godefroid Nyiombare announced last Wednesday that he was relieving the President of his leadership, a message that trended globally on social media. Nkurunziza was out of the country at the time and failed to return for a few days, prompting the hashtag #WhereisNkurunziza. Nkurunziza’s Administration responded to Nyiombare's coup via a Tweet and a Facebook post asking the people of Burundi to remain calm.
#Sindumuja (“I will not be a slave”) has been the call to action for protestors in Burundi. Meanwhile terms like #Burundi, #WhereisNkurunziza, #stopkurunziza ,#burundiprotest, and #Nkurunziza provide up the minute news. 
Communiqué de Presse : Coup d’Etat fantaisisteC’est avec regret que nous avons appris qu’un groupe de militaires s’est...
Posted by Présidence - République du Burundi on Wednesday, May 13, 2015

A reporter of Sweden’s Dagens Nyheter newspaper, Erik Esbjornsson (@Esbjornsson) has documented images the so-far “attempted" coup on his Instagram account here. Esbjornsson has been on the ground in Burundi’s capital since the initial protests against President Nkurunziza began. He made it clear to followers that one image or even hundreds of images are not enough to understand the “very complex, insecure situation” in which Burundi finds itself.  “This conflict right now is about a president that some people think is not respecting the Constitution. This is about democracy and respect for that constitution so far,” Bjornsson told followers. “Of course, when you have a deterioration of the state, it may turn to groups [referencing Burundi’s history of ethnic violence.] But it's not part of this conflict at all yet. People are simply very upset that Nkurunziza is running for a third term.” After Thursday’s attempted coup, Esbjornsson says, “now it seems like the president will have the upper hand again….I want to stress: This is a lot more complicated than when you first look at it,” he says. “You've had a protest against a very specific decision. Now it's turning into something completely different.”

Sources: @ProfCaraJones, @TEDDYMAZINA, @viewfromthecave, @Esbjornsson

 

Nigeria

Nigerians have been circulating a purported ministerial list on social media that the newly elected All Progressives Congress (APC) has recently denounced as misleading. "The party has described as a mere fiction the ministerial lists currently being circulated, especially on the Social Media....Nigerians should disregard these lists and await the authentic list which will be communicated through the appropriate channels at the right time," the party noted.

 

Zimbabwe

Information, Media and Broadcasting Services principal director Mr Regis Chikowore said that social media is a major threat to the newspaper industry (news flash.) Chikowore spoke at the slightly late World Press Freedom Day events in Harare last Friday. "If anybody who can read and write can pass for a journalist, doesn't this pose a threat to the existence of journalism as a profession? As we celebrate Press freedom, journalists should start to reflect on the future of their profession," Chikowore explained to audience members from the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, Zimbabwe National Editors Forum, Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe, Unesco Regional Office for Southern Africa and journalism students.

Sources: +AllAfrica Global Media

 

South Africa

South African government employees will find out this week if their unions have accepted a government wage increase offer. Throughout the last few days, workers from across South African agencies flooded social media sites with questions about whether or not they were getting an increase at all in 2015.  Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC)'s Frikkie De Bruin (@pscbcnews) finally used Twitter to address concerns that the negotiations had collapsed. “It's a package(d) deal. We need to agree on all. But GEHS is at this point the sticky area,” After seven months of negotiations, Tuesday will reveal if an agreement has finally been achieved.

Sources: @Theto_Thakane

 

 

Middle East

Turkey

On his Facebook page in 2013, Adana teacher Bülent Ecevit Özhan posted a meme quoting Plato: "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." Özhan posted this and other images to his social media criticising the Turkish Prime Minister, and for his efforts, the teacher received a fine of TRY 7,080 (USD 2,748) for insulting then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. His fellow teacher Kadir Can Gök als received a fine for calling Erdoğan "dishonorable" and a "laughingstock." This past Saturday, the Education Personnel Union (Eğitim-Sen) protested the fines. President of the Adana branch of the union Ahmet Karagöz said that the fines were just attempts by the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) to discredit Turkish citizens that participated in the Gezi protests.

Sources: +Bgn News

In Istanbul last Friday, the Kimse Yok Mu (“Is Anyone There?”) Foundation (@kym_en) hosted the international conference Social Media for Good. (#socialmedia4good). Andrei Abramov, the former chief of the NGO branch of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), delivered the keynote at the conference. Zainul Abid Kottakulath of BBC News India presented “Hashtags of Hope: How Social Media has transformed the World into a Better Place” highlighting how social media can shed light on under-reported issues. Kottakulath also discussed how The Facebook Safety Check has helped users in and around disaster areas let their loved ones know that they are safe. Professor Jaishankar Karuppan of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University spoke about the role of Social Media for NGOs working to create awareness around and prevent online victimization. In response to a question about trolling and Turkish legislation, Karuppan replied, “I think that some governments are against citizens who are politically active. It is something that happens in the US as well, when people like [Edward] Snowden reveal government secrets. [It depends] on who is tagging on which side of the fence. One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, and this carries over online. So probably, what the activist is doing, the government sees as an attack.”


Sources: +Todays Zaman, +Kimse Yok Mu 


Iran

In Iran early this month, a young woman allegedly threw herself from the upper story window of a (now in-) famous hotel. The woman supposedly committed suicide after having been raped by the hotel's manager and some unnamed government authorities. Iranian political activists the set the hotel on fire and shared the images in protest with the hashgtag (Iran is burning). Then, Iran's geographical and ideological rival, Saudi Arabia, reportedly hijacked the hash tag last week and flooded the social media with false and anachronistic photos of Iran in turmoil.


Sources: +BBC Trending

 

Israel

The Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism (GFCA) met last week and called for all Holocaust denial websites to be scrubbed from the Internet and for the omission of “hate websites and content” from all search results. “Convened by the Foreign Ministry and the Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Ministry….[the GFCA] is a biennial gathering bringing together Jewish community leaders, civil society representatives and diplomats to discuss ways to grapple rising levels of anti-Jewish prejudice.” The Forum’s output document asked that social media and Internet companies in general create a “clear industry standard for defining hate speech and anti-Semitism.” It also requested that Governments  determine“global terms of service prohibiting the posting of hate speech and anti-Semitic materials.” Specifically, the Forum asked the European Union to adopt a formal definition of anti-Semitism that includes “unambiguous reference to attacks on the legitimacy of the State of Israel and its right to exist and Holocaust denial as forms of anti-Semitism.”

Sources: +Jerusalem Post 

 

Egypt

John Casson (@FCOJohnCasson) is the UK Ambassador to Egypt. Young and generally charismatic, he's been popular in Egyptian social media - until now. His Tweet about a job available at the British Embassy took a jab at a local political controversy and earned him the ire of his Egyptian constituents. "Do you want to work at the British Embassy?" he tweeted in Arabic. "We welcome all applicants, even the sons of rubbish collectors." The sensitive issue? Egypt's justice minister, Mahfouz Saber, resigned earlier this week after he sparked outrage in response to an interviewer's question if the son of a rubbish collector could become a judge. According to the BBC, "Saber said that the judiciary should be 'lofty and have status' and that judges had to come from 'a respectable milieu'...'Meddling in Egyptian internal affairs is not acceptable, not even jokingly,' tweeted one Egyptian. Another tweeted: 'They occupied our country for years and killed our people and made us poor and they think they have the luxury of making fun of us' - a reference to British rule which ended in 1952. An Arabic hashtag (#اطردوا_السفير_البريطاني) which called for Casson to be expelled has been used thousands of times. But other Egyptians took a different view. After all, one commented, "it was a joke". Another expressed his exasperation at the current government: 'Expel the British Ambassador from Egypt…and expel me with him please'...Would you give the son of garbage collector a tourist visa though? Or the son of any other Egyptian?' one asked." The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office responded to criticism rather than Casson, "The specific comment was a show of support for the idea that an individual's family background should not prevent them from applying for any job. We have a very talented group of local staff in Cairo and we hope this generates even more interest amongst local communities to join us in building strong ties between the UK and Egypt."

Sources: +BBC Trending, @FCOJohnCasson

 

Iraq

IS militants attacked Ramadi and succeeded in taking control of allegedly 60% of the city. The IS militants reportedly used body cameras to photograph their invasion, and the images now litter militant accounts on Instagram and elsewhere. These images and others have been used as propaganda to further the image of IS among existing and potential recruits, experts suggest. "This is similar to the (techniques) they've used in the past where they've conducted attacks trying to gain social media gains by taking photos and documenting small-term gains and then using it for propaganda purposes," said Marine Brig. Gen. Thomas D. Weidley, chief of staff for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, the name of the international campaign fighting IS.

Sources: +Mirror, +Business Insider UK

 

United Arab Emirates

This past Friday, three sisters - Asma, Mariam and Alyaziyah al-Suwaidi - were released from prison after having been jailed since February of this year for using Twitter to campaign to have their brother released from prison. Their brother, Issa al-Suwaidi, was convicted for links to a pro-Muslim Brotherhood group, outlawed as a terrorist organisation in Egypt.

Sources: +Mail & Guardian Africa

 

Asia

 

China

Pu Zhiqiang, a celebrated human rights lawyer that represented dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (@aiww), was finally charged last Friday after having been held for a year in detention. Pu was charged with  "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble” on Weibo.  The charges carry a maximum jail sentences of 10 and five years respectively, and stem from 28 posts he published to Weibo in 2014. Pu used Weibo to question the Chinese state media's referral to a "terrorist" attack in a largely Muslim province and suggested that the Chinese Government was "lying." In the past year, Pu’s wife wrote that the lawyer has been tortured psychologically and physically, while US State Department officials and Amnesty International have asked that China release Pu. China has refused. 

Sources: +Yahoo News,  +The New York Times, @ChuBailiang

 

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan will host the inaugural European Olympic Games in Baku in June. Social media users have hijacked the European Olympic Committees (EOC) @EOCEUOffice hashtag  #Baku2015 for the games to highlight the repressive political environment in Azerbaijan. Users hope to pressure the EOC into requesting that the nearly one hundred human rights activists, journalists, bloggers and civil society representatives in jail for criticising the Government be released. “EOC leadership has so far maintained a public silence in the face of serious abuse and repression by Azerbaijan’s government against its critics,” said Jane Buchanan, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. During a May hearing in the European Parliament, the EOC vice president, Janez Kocijancic, stated that the EOC “cannot accept political engagements,” but that the EOC will use “whatever influence we have to make this society better and more open.”



Sources: @KooyJan, +Human Rights Watch

 

India 

As of May 26th, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) will have finished one year in office. Just two days before - May 24th - Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) will have completed his first 100 days as leader of the Indian capital Delhi's Government. Kejriwal is often called the "Muffler Man," a name his critics gave him and then his supporters appropriated. The hashtags have arrived accordingly and the most popular depends on which party you prefer: #100DaysOfMufflerMan (Kejriwal 's Aam Aadmi Party - AAP - about his work), #100DaysOfAnarchy (Modi's BJP party about Kejriwal), #JumlaDiwas (AAP to make fun of Modi).



Sources: +India NewsTV 

The government of the Indian state of Punjab has hired a firm to promote its policies and ministers both online and offline. The government's supposed targets focus on output rather than impact; the firm must allegedly produce 35 tweets, 14 Facebook posts, nine blog posts, seven videos and seven Facebook graphics each week for the next two years. The Delhi-based OMLogic (@OMLogic) runs a Facebook page, a Twitter account (@PunjabGovtIndia), a Wordpress blog and, in the future, a WhatsApp account for the Punjabi government.

Sources:  @PunjabGovtIndia

The Uttar Pradesh Government will set up two social media labs to monitor online discussion for potential crimes and unrest that could lead to violence. The labs will be located in Lucknow and Meerut and be run by experts from the Indian Institutes of Information Technology.  "Social media is a very important means of expressing opinion publicly and it is important for us to know what is going on," Anil Agarwal, who looks after UP state police IT projects, explained, adding that social media discussions can impact the law and order of the state. Social media content has contributed to riots and ethnic attacks.

Sources: +Zee News

The Punjab Congress Party plans to confront the Aam Aadmi Party and SAD-BJP on social media through dedicated IT cells in all districts. Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa said, "The online campaigns will be put on place in the run up to the next assembly elections across platforms - Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp." A similar social-media savvy approach worked very well in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections for the Aam Aadmi Party, which used volunteer social media cells to update voters on Facebook pages and WhatsApp.

Sources: @vibhor_mohan, +The Times of India

The Arunachal Government warned netizens to stop abusing social media. “Individuals and groups using fake IDs have been spreading concocted and misleading information in the social media especially Facebook targeting influential personalities in the government. There have been deliberate attempt to defame and malign the image of personalities and the government to create chaos in the society,” a Government spokesperson told the press.There are evidences of using the social media to create communal hatred and disharmony in the State which has been seriously taken note of by the State Government. The State Government has directed the State Police and IT agencies to keep a close vigil to unearth all the fake ID users in the social media and take serious actions (against persons involved in such malpractices) as per the IT Act and relevant sections under IPC.” The same spokesperson - a Mr. Bamang Felix - noted that  “recently, a fake account holder had posted a wrong and malicious post claiming Government Spokesperson and Parliamentary Secretary Education, IPR and Printing Bamang Felix to have resigned from his post owing to distorted facts which was apparently published in one of the regional newspaper too.”

Sources: +The Assam Tribune 

Want to know what benefits come from monitoring social media? Find a few very strong examples here in this article about Indian Prime Minister Modi's Government. After hearing negative chatter about Chinese incursions in the Ladakh region, the External Affairs Ministry issued a conciliatory statement that mollified critics. Later, when opposition accused Modi online of privileging Hindus, Modi appeared at a Church and reinforced Indians' "inalienable right" to choose their own religion. The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry's New Media wing releases two monitoring reports a day - one in the morning and one in the evening. As one official there said, “Our job is to provide the social media analysis to the Cabinet Secretariat and the PMO. We stop at that. It is for them to act or not act upon it.”
Sources: +The Indian Express, @iyervaidy

 

Nauru

“We’re concerned by reports of recent internet restrictions imposed by the government of Nauru, including that they blocked Facebook and other social media sites,” US Department of State press officer Jeff Rathke told reporters. Nauru, as mentioned before in this blog, has removed the head of its telecommunications provider Digicell and banned Facebook in the island nation, also (temporary?) home to many refugees. Meanwhile, Australia is staying quiet (possibly related to Australian development aid in return for help with refugee detention?), and the Nauru President Baron Waqa not-so-subtly Tweeted last Wednesday that others should butt out of Nauruan business. 
Sources: @FarrellPF, +The Guardian

 

Australia

Australia announced its 2015 budget, and the Australian social media is a-Twitter with reactions () from the Government and netizens. The Government will provide $131 million to telecommunication companies and internet service providers to help them adapt to the new data retention laws (covered in this blog in late March.)  In addition, budget has been further allocated to monitor and analyse social media chatter for counter-terrorism efferots. “This measure will challenge terrorist organisations’ lies and propaganda online. This will make it harder for terrorist groups to attract vulnerable Australians, particularly young Australians, through the internet and social media,” Prime Minister Abbott said.

Here are a few reactions to the Australian 2015 budget as a whole:

Sources: +The Australian 

The Australian Government has announced plans to invest in defense in light of IS terrorist threats abroad and at home. The 2015 budget will include:
  • $131  million will be provided to assist telecommunications companies upgrade their infrastructure to allow metadata to be stored for two years, to track terrorist chatter.
  • $22 million committed to combating terrorist propaganda online and countering violent extremism.
Sources: +9 News

Australian customs officers are reviewing their procedures after movie star Johnny Depp arrived in the country on his private plane and failed to declare his two terriers. Their presence was only incidentally revealed after the two dogs were groomed by an Australian dog groomer who bragged about the celebrity clients online. The Australian government ordered that the two dogs be placed in quarantine and then sent back to the USA within 3 days. "Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) has said the pampered pets have to 'bugger off' home to Hollywood or they will be put down." The social media trend #WarOnTerrier accumulated all sorts of discussion from how wealth and privilege should not impact how customs affects you to debate over how Australia treats immigrants.

Sources: +The Sydney Morning Herald

New Zealand

Last year, New Zealand had a rough time when it came to social media and the national Government. In a book called Dirty Politics, published in August 2014, it was revealed that one of the country's most controversial (and most popular) bloggers, right-wing activist Cameron Slater, conspired with the Prime Minister's social media-savvy "spin doctor" and then secretarial aid Jason Ede to target opposition in the 2011 elections. The book and other sources suggest that the partnership extended post-election and that Ede made use of public funds to further his political master's personal goals. Ede resigned earlier this year, but his replacement does not seem to be changing tactics or tone in his use of social media - and public money - to play politics rather than public servant.  Yet there is a lot of suggestion online and off that social media political discourse is a tempest in a tea cup - a "media clique" - when it comes to actual Kiwi politics. This is an interesting article which sums up in links and in content all the most recent debate on this big - or small - depending to which camp you subscribe - issue.
 
Sources: @bryce_edwards

 

North America

Canada

In the Canadian province of Alberta, the Progressive Conservatives have been ousted from the government for the first time in 12 governments. The (unexpectedly) newly in charge New Democratic Party is scrambling to put together a budget. Meanwhile, the trending hashtag for the region is (Alberta legislature) and most of the images being shared are of the mounds of shredded documents the Progressive Conservatives are sending to the (we hope) recycling bin before their rivals take office. There have been several comments and criticism online and offline that, while it's normal to shred a bit of paper when the government changes hands, the amount being shredded here might be a bit too much. Netizens have asked, what are they trying to hide? Meanwhile the incoming Government is initiating an investigation into what is being shredded - hopefully nothing affected by the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act (FOIP.) FOIP "does not apply to the personal records of ministers, or an MLA's correspondence with constituents, but does apply to departmental records and cabinet records" Jill Clayton, the Information and Privacy Commissioner explained.
Sources: @DonBraid, +CBC News 

 

USA

The US President finally got his (for now?) personal account. The account is @POTUS (a short name commonly used for President of the United States.)

Of course, we're assuming (as is Bill) that this account stays with the office.


The US State Department Twitter account for the counter-terrorism movement "Thing Again, Turn Away" is under fire from Slate. The webzine pointed out that the official Twitter account for the programme (@ThinkAgain_DOS) linked to a rather thin story from the UK's Daily Mail last week. And not for the first time - the account has even linked to an old, thoroughly debunked article about a planned IS genital mutilation of 2 million girls. The article continues, "Given how many well-documented instances of ISIS’s barbarity there are, it doesn’t seem necessary to promote dubious rumors. The government doesn’t enhance its credibility (which is presumably already pretty minimal with the audience its trying to reach) by endorsing easily debunkable information. It’s also discouraging to see the U.S. government endorse such shoddy work given the difficulty and risks faced by journalists trying to document what’s really happening in Syria." The story pointed out the Congress is a bit embarrassed by current US anti-terrorism efforts online and that they plan to fund an overhaul of the approach (as mentioned in last week's blog.)
Sources: @joshuakeating, +Slate

Alexandra Lúgaro (@AlexandraLugar0), the first independent candidate for governor of Puerto Rico, plans to rely on social networks to promote her image and her issues. Puerto Rico has been controlled by a two-party system for decades, so Lúgaro, a 33-year-old attorney, will need a lot of promotion before the elections for governor in November 2016. Lúgaro plans to focus on the economy, including renegotiating the island's debt, and the Cabotage Law, which requires all goods transported to Puerto Rico must be in US-flagged and manufactured ships.

Sources: +Fox News Latino, @AlexandraLugar0

The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) began its official presence on Facebook and Twitter (@PADOH) just last week. The goal of the social media sites is to provide the public with up to date public health information. 

Sources: @PADOH

Officially Jeb Bush has not declared his US Presidential candidacy despite going on a trip across the USA to promote his non-candidacy. At a town hall-style meeting in Reno, Nevada, he let slip that he would run for President, quickly recovering by restating "if" he runs for President in 2016. What threw him off? It could have been a young college student who questioned his foreign policy towards IS. “A Bush was trying to blame ISIS on Obama’s foreign policy — it was hilarious,” said the student, Ivy Ziedrich (@IvyZied), who attends the University of Nevada. “It was like somebody crashing their car and blaming the passenger.” Ziedrich confronted Bush with, "Your brother created ISIS." Her confrontation became in Internet meme and a viral video.

Sources: +CNN

U.S. Representative  Loretta Sanchez, running to represent a district in California, let out an excited Native American "war cry" over the weekend. A constituent filmed the action on his cell phone and shared it via social media, prompting the Representative to issue a public apology in which she emphasised her Native American roots.

Sources +CNN

A California bill providing guidelines to judges on when to order electronic providers to turn over electronic information to the executor or administrator of an estate (so after someone dies) passed the state Assembly last week. These guidelines, if and when they become law, will determine what happens to the social media of Californians after they die.

Sources: +Monterey Herald

 

Central America

Guatemala

Guatemalans filled the streets this past Saturday (again) to protest corruption and to demand that  President Otto Perez Molina (@ottoperezmolina) resign (again). "Vice President Roxana Baldetti was forced to resign a week ago amid an uproar over her private secretary being singled out by authorities as the alleged ringleader" of a customs bribery scheme that allegeldy involves 50 private citzens and public servants. Baldetti has not been charged and she denies any part in the scheme. These protests were organised via social media (again.)



Sources: +Wall Street Journal



Tools

TownSquare

A start-up out of Canada led by university student and serial entrepreneur Quinn Taylor (@TaylorQuinn92) aims to re-engineer how politicians, government authorities, and citizens interact online. “TownSquare sets out to democratize democracy by encouraging dialogue between government officials and citizens,” Quinn said in a phone interview with The Chronicle Hearld last Monday. “We built a platform that will allow government officials, politicians and citizens to engage in a two-way dialogue in ways they can’t now.... We’re planning to roll out our (test) this week and we’re hoping to sign initial contracts with political parties and municipal governments in mid-June...We understand the timeliness of what we’re working on, given the upcoming election in Canada this year and the upcoming election in the U.S. next year.”

Sources: +The Chronicle Herald, @entrevestor


Reports

The State of Social Media Infrastructure: Part 3- A Compliance Analysis of Fortune 100 Social Media Infrastructure

This report looks at how Fortune 100 firms in the USA are managing to - well - not ensure that social media coming from their companies and their employees complies with federal regulations. The analysts for the report looked at social media content from over 32,000 social accounts of Fortune 100 firms. 

Key findings:
  • The average firm suffered from a total of 69 unmoderated compliance incidents that went virtually unnoticed by internal compliance staff 
  • Financial Services firms accounted for the largest incident volume with over 5000 incidents (over 250 per firm)
  • Nine different U.S. regulatory standards triggered incidents.  A few examples include FINRA Retail Communications, FFIEC / Regulation Z, FTC Sweepstakes, and SEC Regulation FD, and FDA Adverse Drug Experience
  • Best practice social media compliance controls are inconsistently enforced with only 47% of brand posts made via Marketing and Content Publishing applications

The report also provides a taxonomy of common incidents with real-world examples, and suggests steps that organisations can take to better manage social media compliance.

Freedom on the Net 2014 by Freedom House

This report looks at how freedom on the net is decreasing, citing examples in which largely youth netizens are targeted by Governments for using social media to criticise - or sometimes merely share controversial content - on the Internet. Pakistan comes across as particularly violent, having silently sanctioned the murders of a woman who merely possessed mobile phone a mother and her daughters who were caught on camera playing in the rain and then shared the video.
Check out scores per country in this interactive graphic here.

Some major trends:
  • Between May 2013 and May 2014, 41 countries passed or proposed legislation to penalize legitimate forms of speech online, increase government powers to control content, or expand government surveillance capabilities.
  • Of the 65 countries studied in Freedom on the Net 2014, 19 passed new legislation that increased surveillance or restricted user anonymity.
  • More people were detained or prosecuted for their digital activities in the past year than ever before.
  • Bans on online dissent are increasing.
  • There is expanded power for state regulators in many countries with regard to social media engagement by individuals.
  • Online defamation is increasingly criminalised (and increasingly broad in scope when defined.)
  • There is more and more content blocking without court orders in several countries.
  • Some new laws impose criminal liability on intermediaries like ISPs and content-hosting platforms.
Emerging threats:
  • Data localization, by which private companies are required to maintain data storage centers within a given country to allow for greater government control.
  • A harsh environment for women and members of the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,and intersex) community, who are both under-represented online and disproportionately harassed for their online activities. 
  • Lack of cybersecurity for human rights activists and political opposition members, who have increasingly been targeted with technical attacks and spying by repressive governments
Sources: @FreedomHouseDC

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