censorship
Content moderation online is currently done by most social media companies through a mix of automation (or what is sometimes referred to as artificial intelligence or AI) and human moderators. Automation deals effectively with certain kinds of content such as sexually explicit images, child pornography, terrorism-related content – but it is not a foolproof system. Here human intervention and oversight are needed, especially when it comes to the meaning of what is being said in comments or c...
A brief observation of the analytical frameworks used by a great number of Kenyan social media users around the controversy surrounding the release of the Kenyan film Rafiki may make you more familiar with the rubrics of “artistic freedom” and “freedom of speech” than those of “queerness” and “precariousness” (here “queerness” accounts for those Kenyans who live outside of gender and sexuality norms). These uneven uptakes were on full display on 21 September 2018, th...
Update - 12 June 2019: APC is gravely concerned that the Sudanese authorities continue to implement internet restrictions to prevent citizens in the capital from communicating, as protesters try to reorganise after a brutal crackdown by government soldiers that left dozens of peaceful demonstrators dead. Following Sudan’s network operators Sudatel, Zain and MTN switching off mobile internet a...
Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are key issues in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, media organisations do not always cover the Agenda and the numerous initiatives behind it, which leaves them unknown to the greater public. How can we bridge these gaps between key human rights initiatives and the wider public, with the help of the media? To addr...
The Internet Freedom Festival (IFF) held in Valencia, Spain on a yearly basis has become one of the main events for civil society on internet rights with a special focus on surveillance, censorship and circumvention worldwide. The 2019 Internet Freedom Festival marks an important milestone, as it will be celebrating its fifth anniversary, with occasions for celebration and reflection. The...
The year 2019 started with five African countries – Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, Sudan and Zimbabwe – facing internet disruptions, a very dangerous trend that reveals a rise in authoritarianism on the continent. This is the focus of Despots and Disruptions: Five Dimensions of Internet Shutdowns in Africa, a recently launched study by APC member Collaboration on Inte...
There are so many places to get porn. The online space is awash with naked bodies, a good majority of them on there consensually and a small but disturbing proportion not. The watching of naked bodies is big business, with one porn-based hub stating that in 2018 alone, 111 years (or one million hours) were uploaded onto their platform. This would mean that even if you dedicated your entir...
After the arrest of Award-winning Philippine journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, APC member Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA) published the following statement (also published on their website). As of 14 February, Ressa has been freed on bail, a day after her arrest on charges of "cyber-libel" drew international condemnation. FMA denounces the arrest of Rapple...
Together with Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and 70 human rights organisations, APC signed a joint letter to Google's CEO Sundar Pichai concerning Google's plans to launch a censored search engine in China ahead of his testimony before US Congress on 11 December. The project, code-named Dragonfly, is reportedly in development and would be designed to meet the censorship requir...
To: Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer, Google Inc cc: Ben Gomes, Vice President of Search; Kent Walker, Senior Vice President of Global Affairs; Scott Beaumont, Vice President, Greater China and Korea 11 December 2018 Dear Mr. Pichai, We are writing to ask you to ensure that Google drops Project Dragonfly and any plans to launch a censored search app in China, and to re-affirm the compan...
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2019
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