Internet
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Facebook’s ‘war on India’: Analyst sues tech giant for ‘subverting’ polls with selective censorship
While Facebook claims to have deleted thousands of pages to prevent meddling in the Indian elections, the American company’s selective deletions have led at least one man to ask: Who is watching the election watchers? Continue reading
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Australian government sets global precedent with online censorship bill By Mike Head
In the wake of the fascist attack in New Zealand, the Australian government is bulldozing unprecedented laws through parliament this week that will threaten all social media platforms with severe criminal penalties if they host what government authorities consider “abhorrent violent” material. Continue reading
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EU’s Parliament Signs Off on Disastrous Internet Law: What Happens Next? By Danny O’Brien
In a stunning rejection of the will of five million online petitioners, and over 100,000 protestors this weekend, the European Parliament has abandoned common-sense and the advice of academics, technologists, and UN human rights experts, and approved the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive in its entirety. Continue reading
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Update on the Link Tax
On Tuesday the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted to approve the Copyright Directive including the highly controversial Article 13. This happened despite millions of people like you voicing their opposition online and in the streets. Continue reading
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A dark day for the Internet
Yesterday, the European Parliament held the final vote on the controversial EU Copyright Directive, which is one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation in European history. The final vote approved Articles 11 (Link Tax) and 13 (mandatory content filtering) of the Copyright Directive, in a vote of 348 to 274. Continue reading
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European Union intensifies internet censorship By Justus Leicht and Johannes Stern
Two months before the European elections, the European Parliament has voted to massively escalate internet censorship. Yesterday, the majority of MEPs voted in favour of a directive which, under the guise of copyright reforms, would enforce the use of so-called upload filters in social media, thus further restricting the internet. Continue reading
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US red lines for digital trade with the UK cause alarm By Javier Ruiz
Trade negotiations between the US and the UK have recently received a lot of attention due to the publication of the official negotiating objectives of the US Government, which set out in sometimes candid detail the areas of interest and priorities. The US document is mainly written in coded “trade-speak”, with seemingly innocuous term such as… Continue reading
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Link Tax: Controversial EU copyright law faces final vote
A hotly-contested copyright provision is haunting Europe, troubling internet freedom advocates and content creators alike. Article 13, facing its final vote, would place heavy restrictions on content sharing, from films to memes. Continue reading
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Article 13’s endgame is here: Mail your MEP!
After years of controversial votes and international protest, the EU Copyright Directive is approaching its final MEP vote. This is our last chance to prevent Article 13 from ushering in an era where most online speech is at the mercy of upload filters. Continue reading
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Mark Zuckerberg’s “Privacy Manifesto”: A brief for intensifying Internet and social media censorship By Kevin Reed
On March 6, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg published a statement entitled “A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking” on the Notes tab of his personal page. Widely described as a “manifesto,” the document is a brief for ending the mass public exchange of ideas on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as… Continue reading
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Mark Zuckerberg’s Dilemma: Eventually Silicon Valley Will Fall… BY Caleb Maupin
The Silicon Valley monopolist Mark Zuckerberg, who controls the social media empire known as “Facebook” finds himself in an increasingly tough spot. Certain forces within the western political establishment want him to exercise his power more ruthlessly, but he realizes this could lead to his ultimate downfall. Continue reading
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How a Small Team of Journalists Overcame Neocon-Cheered Facebook Censorship by Alexander Rubinstein
“CNN manufactured a story: They investigated us, then got Facebook to censor us due to our funding source and then boom, they had a story about a Russian-funded outlet getting banned by Facebook.” — In The Now host Rania Khalek Continue reading
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Twitter Bans 2,000 Pro-Maduro Accounts As Demands For Regime Change Escalate by Tyler Durden
On the evening before National Security Advisor John Bolton reiterated that “all options [including, presumably, military intervention] are on the table” regarding the situation in Venezuela, Twitter announced that it had joined the US-backed coup by taking down 2,000 accounts that it said were engaged in a “state-backed influence campaign”, according to RT. Continue reading
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Twitter takes down hundreds of accounts linked to Venezuela amid US calls for regime change
The San Francisco-based social media giant released a blog post on Thursday saying that it removed 1,196 accounts located in Venezuela which it deemed to “appear to be engaged in a state-backed influence campaign targeting domestic audiences.” It also removed another 764 accounts, however, noted: “We are unable to definitively tie the accounts located in… Continue reading
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GDPR and Big Tech: The Cookie Monster Versus Joe Public by Julian Vigo
Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation which was implemented last summer has far-reaching privacy rules. Commonly referred as the , this is now the standard which has forced most tech companies to rethink not only data collection practices but also how data is collected or they risk high fines. Where the US lacks a similar regulation… Continue reading
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Facebook’s censor Nick Clegg outlines plans for European elections By Robert Stevens
Just two months after joining Facebook as its vice-president of Global Affairs and Communications, Nick Clegg gave his first main speech this week outlining sweeping censorship measures to be imposed during the European elections. These are to be carried out in the name of combatting “disinformation” and “fake news.” Continue reading
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Still alive: Link Tax + Censorship Machines
The new EU Copyright Directive is only days away from being finalized. Yet some of its most toxic proposals — the Link Tax and Censorship Machines — are still alive under Articles 11 and 13. If passed, they will turn the Internet into a censored pay-to-play ghost town. Continue reading
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The Internet is Facing a Catastrophe For Free Expression and Competition: You Could Tip The Balance By Cory Doctorow
The new EU Copyright Directive is progressing at an alarming rate. This week, the EU is asking its member-states to approve new negotiating positions for the final language. Once they get it, they’re planning to hold a final vote before pushing this drastic, radical new law into 28 countries and 500,000,000 people. Continue reading
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How a NeoCon-Backed “Fact Checker” Plans to Wage War on Independent Media by Whitney Webb
Soon after the social media “purge” of independent media sites and pages this past October, a top neoconservative insider — Jamie Fly — was caught stating that the mass deletion of anti-establishment and anti-war pages on Facebook and Twitter was “just the beginning” of a concerted effort by the U.S. government and powerful corporations to… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 