In response to the latest images of its victims released by ISIS on social media, online activists have asked users to share photos of the victims doing their jobs or living their lives rather than share the ISIS images of their deaths. Follow the hashtags #IamKenji, #WeAreAllMuath, #JeSuisMoath, #IamMuath for more.
A 2010 Tweet posted by the Japanese victim Kenji Goto is trending this week. The Tweet, originally in Japanese, translates as "Closing my eyes and holding still. It's the end if I get mad or scream. It's close to a prayer. Hate is not for humans. Judgment lies with God. That's what I learned from my Arabic brothers and sisters." Jordanian royal family members joined other Jordanians and Japanese at the Japanese Embassy in Jordan for a vigil, captured on social media.
In Ecuador, Diana Amores and Carlos Andres Vera, two critics of Correa's government, have noted that Correa is allegedly paying a Barcelona, Spain company, Ares Rights SL, to ask Twitter to suspend social media accounts critical of his government for violations of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The company finds Tweets and images shared by Correa's critics that include logos and images owned by political parties and report these to Twitter as in violation of the US DMCA. The offending accounts are then suspended while Twitter investigates the complaints.
Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner used Twitter to poke fun at the Chinese leadership's accent - how Chinese can sometimes mix up "l's" and "r's". Accused of racism at a moment when Argentina needs Chinese goodwill (Argentina needs Chinese money), President Kirchner then Tweeted a "non-apology" that defended her sense of humour.
The US-based social network Reddit published is first-ever transparency report. The report was short - Reddit does not collect much user data and deletes all IP addresses it stores every 90 days.
Will Stevens, the Spokesperson for the US Embassy in Russia earned a few local chuckles when he conducted a poll on Twitter. Stevens asked Twitter users which they trusted more, The Economist or RT, Russia's English-language news channel. So far, RT is winning by a landslide.
Americans Marc and Debra Tice with the journalist-advocacy group Reporters Without Borders have launched a social media campaign to pressure the US and Syria to save their son, journalist Austin Tice, who was taken captive outside Damascus in 2012. The campaign asks users to use the hashtag #freeaustintice and upload images of themselves in blindfolds. As of 16 February, more than 250 news sites will carry digital banners calling for Austin's release in a project Reporters Without Borders called “a first in U.S. media history.”
A social media and Indiegogo fundraising campaign by the photographer, Brandon Stanton, behind "Humans of New York" resulted in a visit to the White House for one of his young subjects, Vidal Chastanet. Chastanet caught the photographer's ear when he said his hero was his principal, Nadio Lopez, who a the time aimed to raise enough money to take some students to visit Harvard. Now Lopez and Chastanet, with Stanton's help, has raised almost 1.2 million dollars and been to The White House to meet the President.
New York City can legally use social media for investigative purposes. Despite a grand jury this past week refusing to indict an NYC teenager on terrorist charges for threatening police via violent emojis in Facebook statuses, the NYPD has successfully implemented a policy that allows police officers to create false social media identities to catch real and potential criminals. The five page policy, released recently in reaction to a freedom of information request, requires NYPD officers hoping to establish false identities online to pass two levels of supervisory scrutiny. The official policy aims “to instil the proper balance between the investigative potential of social network sites and privacy expectations."
Politicians in the USA continue to struggle when it comes to acceptable social media practices. An Ohio lawmaker generated backlash this past week when she used her political Twitter account to tout her local real estate business. The House of Representatives passed the Social Media Working Group Act (H.R. 623) to establish a working group to advise the Homeland Security Department on strategies for delivering information about natural disasters and other emergencies using social media technologies.
Canada and the USA are using social networks to map gang relations and drug violence throughout North and South America. "It turns out that the gangs, being young men, are very active on social media," says Dr. Robert Muggah, who runs the social media research at the SecDev Foundation in Canada and the Igarapé Institute in Rio de Janiero. "They use it to tag (mark territory), they use it to coerce, they use it to recruit, they use it to move product, they use it to communicate directives." Even when not present on social media, the gangs often monitor social media; in Mexico, gangs have effectively imposed social media blackouts in certain areas where gang members don't want citizens sharing information.
In Canada, police charged three men last week with terror-related offences based on witness statements and social media. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested and charged 25-year-old Awso Peshdary of Ottawa with offering financial support to potential terrorists hoping to travel abroad. Khadar Khalib, 23, and John Maguire, 24, were charged in absentia as both men have already left Canada to join ISIS in the Middle East.
Canadian legislators are considering Bill C-51, which would make it an offence to advocate or promote “the commission of terrorism offences," including over the Internet and social media. A de-radicalisation counsellor based in Toronto is skeptical of the Bill's potential impact even if passed. “By the time they actually go through this legislation, even if it takes a few days, it’s still not fast enough to keep up with the propaganda that’s being put out there,” he noted. The counsellor and others note that bills making radicalisation illegal and anti-radicalisation propaganda put out by governments like France's anti-jihadist website and the U.S. State Department’s “Think Again, Turn Away” campaign is probably far less effective than anti-ISIS statements made by reputable Muslim clergy and respected Islamic community members.
British Columbia's leader is under fire for spending $352,644.39 on social media advertising during the teacher's strike. The total social media communication budget included $74,445.77 on sponsored Facebook posts, $58,210.32 on promoted tweets on Twitter and $6,250 on Google ads, plus $167,553 on a “niche digital mobile display.” Most of the ads sent users to the BCParentInfo.ca website where they could find out more about the government's position on the strike and learn about how to pick up a voucher. In defence of the spending, BC Premier Christy Clark explained, “There were thousands and thousands of families that were affected by that (the teachers dispute) and it was really important that the people of British Columbia knew where we were at and where we wanted to go. I have always believed that when government shares more information rather than less citizens are better off.”
Togo is out to improve and re-launch its e-government services. To support this, the country is hosting top national talent for an intense e-service training. The best of those trained will continue their training overseas. Training will probably include social media customer service.
Privacy regulators in Hamburg, Germany are looking into Facebook data privacy regulations to see if these follow German law. This follows Berlin and Bremen data protection commissioners initiating proceedings against the transfer of German data under the Safe Harbour Agreement.
About 5,000 Greeks gathered in Syntagma Square in response to a social media call for support for the anti-austerity government. The protest followed Wednesday's decision by the European Central Bank to no longer allow Greek banks to use government debt as collateral for loans.
Dunja Mijatovic, media freedom representative for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), worried last week that legislation under consideration by the Serbian Republic in Bosnia Herzegovina will hinder free expression. The legislation would extend the definition of a public space to include social media and the Internet. "Under the proposed amendments, anyone who posts symbols, images, texts or music videos on social media that are deemed to disturb public order can be fined up to 300 Bosnian marka ($175). Those deemed to offend or threaten other people face fines of up to 800 marka or a 30-day prison term."
Turkey has indicted Dutch freelance journalist Fréderike Geerdink (@fgeerdink) for “making propaganda” for the Kurdish Workers' Party via, among other things, her social media account. Geerdink lives and works as an independent journalist in the Kurdish area in Southeast Turkey. The Association of European Journalists condemned the indictment in a statement released Thursday.
The Israeli election campaign is heating up. The Koolanu political party posted a video poking fun at the Yesh Atid party's Chairman Yair Lapid for being obsessed with social media.
As of March 1st, China wants all users, past and present, to register (or re-register) for social media accounts using their real names. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released a 10-clause regulation on Feb. 4 detailing plans to combat “illegal or bad information" online and to stop users from impersonating well-known public figures and institutions online or using disturbing or controversial images or screen names in their social networking.
A survey of Chinese social network users indicates that people are sharing less online and are more concerned about their privacy. After interviewing 53,000 people in in-person interviews and conducting online polls of 13,000 people, the survey suggests that Chinese are less enthusiastic about the positive impact of social media on their personal lives and in society than in prior surveys.
That said, the Chinese government is using social media, including social networks that are blocked inside China such as YouTube, Google Plus, Twitter, and Facebook, to publicise this year's Lunar New Year's variety show. On February 19th, the show will be broadcast internationally and in several languages.
One foreign social network is not banned in China; LinkedIn revealed Thursday that it has doubled its Chinese user base from four million to eight million. In China, LinkedIn is known as Lingying.
Indian authorities clarified to the Indian Supreme Court that comments on social media should not be seen as an offence under Section 66 A of the IT Act. The Act permitted arrests for "annoying, inconvenient and dangerous messages" on social media, something that Indians felt local authorities abused to silence Indians' freedom of expression online. This will hopefully no longer be the case.
Meanwhile, Indian authorities continue to lead workshops encouraging government officials to use social media to communicate with citizens. The Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley in a workshop entitled "Streamlining Government Communication" urged the use of social media to distribute “credible, factual, relevant and reader-friendly information” rather than propaganda. In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is using social networks to publicise its positive performance to constituents, hoping to offset what it views as negative publicity.
In Singapore a judge ruled gay rights blogger Alex Au in contempt for questioning how the Singapore judiciary treats gay sexual activity (considered a crime in Singapore.) Singapore plans to launch a new agency targeting cybercrime.
An Indonesian activist has launched the social media campaign #GueBerani (I am brave) to encourage Indonesian men to get tested for AIDs. Government-funded health organisations note that social media is a great way to reach out the LGBT community in Indonesia.
In Queensland in Australia, a university professor has been tracking the local elections in social media. He found that popularity on social media accurately predicted the election results.
Finally, the Australian Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste has returned home after 400 days in an Egyptian jail and a social media campaign advocating his release. Greste and two colleagues were imprisoned for reporting news that was "damaging to national security." His colleagues remain in jail.
Still want more? Read 5 countries to follow on social media.
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