Freedom of expression: Where do we set the lines

The second African Internet Governance Forum istarted in Nairobi, Kenya just a day after a terrorist attack was launched on this African country.

The media reported 24 hours a day from the site of the attack; Twitter hashtags were created to make sure messages related to the crisis were passed on to the masses; and Facebook ready-to-use pictures of support to Kenya were circulated. It was actually a valuable experience for freedom expression defenders, as they were able to analyse how human beings exercised their rights in a time of shock and where the limit is set.

Over the course of the 4 days that the horrific event held Africa’s attention, photos of victims and deceased were circulated without any regard to morality and ethics. Hate speech online called to kill Muslims. Terrorist-related Twitter accounts were being disabled, yet new ones were created when the first were cut off. If freedom of expressioni is really a right, as stateid in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rightsi, why were the accounts of users communicating hate speech suspended? I could add to this, why did women in the movement around the world call, months ago, for Facebook to suspend the accounts of people calling for women’s rape?

Read more in GenderIT.org

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