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Advancing understanding of the norms and institutions
that best protect the free flow of information and expression.
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COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS & RECENT NEWS
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● 'Silenced': Pakistan's journalists decry new era of censorship. In a report for Aljazeera, Asad Hashim, interviewed journalists across the country, to document Pakistan's new era of censorship under Pakistani PM Imran Khan's government and the powerful military. In the words of one journalist,"[y]ou can't tweet something critical and survive. You can't speak the truth about what's happening or what happened - if you speak the truth, trust me, I think you're going to vanish [off-air]."
● Egyptian Government Targets Activists on Facebook. A new report by ANHRI, the Arabic Network for Human Right Information Defending Freedom of Expression, tackles 15 detention cases of writers, social activists, political representatives, and government employees in Egypt based on the Law Regulating the Press, Media, and the Supreme Council for Media Regulation ( SCMR). The Egyptian government aims to control social media platforms, especially Facebook, and intentionally conflates freedom of expression with terrorism and violence in order to suppress dissent and social media activists.
● Lebanese Authorities Clamp Down on Freedom of Expression. A new video, produced by SMEX and Megaphone, documents the growing climate of censorship in Lebanon and how authorities have detained citizens based solely on posts made on social media. The video discusses existing laws that limit freedom of expression and the serious consequences citizens have faced when summoned by security services. Watch the video here (in Arabic). |
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United States
The Koala v. Khosla
Decision Date: July 24, 2019
A United States Court of Appeal found that a student newspaper’s First Amendment rights were violated when its funding was revoked by a University, allegedly in retaliation for a satirical article it published. In 2015, The Koala published an article satirizing “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings” on U.S. campuses which resulted in significant complaints and an official condemnation by the University due to its employment of stereotypes and racial epithets. In quick succession, the student government passed a Media Act which dissolved a subsidy for all student print newspapers, thus preventing The Koala from printing its paper for the remainder of the academic year. The Court found the University singled out the paper for offensive speech in an effort to silence it, resulting in a chilling effect. The Court remanded the case based on its conclusion that The Koala’s Free Press Clause, Freedom of Speech, and First Amendment retaliation claims had merit to proceed.
Australia
Trkulja v. Google LLC
Decision Date: June 13, 2018
The High Court of Australia found Google liable of defamation from the alleged defamatory results appearing in Google searches. Google images displayed pictures of Mr. Trkulja along with various convicted criminals as the search result of the phrases, “melbourne criminals” and “melbourne criminal underworld figure,” and further, auto-complete predictions on Google for “michael trk” displayed phrases such as “michael trkulja criminal.” On the basis of these, Mr. Trkulja alleged that Google published defamatory images between 1 December 2012 and 3 March 2014 to persons in Victoria. The High Court disagreed with the ruling of the Court of Appeal and found Google to be the publisher. Further, the High Court found the material published to be capable of being defamatory, since some search results could have caused defamatory imputations in the mind of ordinary reasonable viewers.
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THE FRONTIER OF EXPRESSION: RUSSIA AND CENTRAL ASIA
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Russia
On August 11, the Russian authorities reprimanded YouTube for supposedly sending push notifications about ongoing mass protests in Moscow. For weeks, tens of thousands of Muscovites have been protesting against the government’s refusal to allow independent politicians to stand for local elections. The authorities used arrests and physical violence in an attempt to disperse protesters. Moscow’s government is also considering creating approved areas for public assembly, which would violate Russia’s federal laws on public assembly. Despite these tactics, protests are going strong. The Russian authorities thus turned to trying to restrict access to platforms that could be used to disseminate information about protests. According to Roskomnadzor, Russia’s information oversight body, YouTube apparently has been sending unsolicited push notifications about the protests. This is not the first time that the Russian authorities threatened Google and its services. So far the company has managed to operate in Russia, while generally ignoring the authorities’ reprimands and demands.
Tajikistan
On August 13, a leaked secret Tajik government order banning the import and sale of clothes "foreign to the national culture" appeared online. The order is to be implemented by the Ministry of Interior, the State Committee on National Security, the State Committee on Religion, the State Committee on Women’s and Family Affairs, the Customs Police, the Islamic Studies Center and other federal and regional government agencies. The order does not specify the clothes considered foreign to Tajik culture, but likely targets conservative Islamic dresses. Tajikistan already prohibits women wearing hijabs and niqabs from entering many public buildings, including hospitals. Policemen occasionally detain women who dress in this manner and force them to take off their veils. The authorities believe that conservative Muslim dress codes are an import from the Arabian Gulf and associate them with extremism. Those who speak in support of the veil sometimes face legal action. In January, a YouTube Blogger who criticized the Tajik authorities for their aggressive stance on the veil was charged with extremism.
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● Quarterly Report on the State of Freedom of Expression in Egypt - Second Quarter (April – June 2019). As part of its continuous work addressing the state of freedom of expression and the free flow of information in Egypt, AFTE, a law firm that specializes in freedom of thought and expression issued its second quarterly report for the year 2019. The report analyzes the governmental policies that violated freedom of expression during the second quarter of 2019. The report also includes some recommendations for the Egyptian authorities to respect international conventions that protect freedom of expression and free flow of information.
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