<
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/02/27/getting-kicked-off-social-media-for-breaking-its-rules-is-nothing-like-being-sent-to-a-prison-camp-for-retweeting-criticism-of-a-dictator/>
"It’s become frustrating how often people insist that losing this or that
social media account is “censorship” and an “attack on free speech.” Not only
is it not that, it makes a mockery of those who face real censorship and real
attacks on free speech. The Washington Post recently put out an amazing feature
about people who have been jailed or sent away to re-education camps for simply
reposting something on social media. It’s titled “They clicked once. Then came
the dark prisons.“
The authoritarian rulers were not idle. They planned to take back the public
square, and now they are doing it. According to Freedom on the Net 2022,
published by Freedom House, between June 2021 and May 2022, authorities in
40 countries blocked social, political or religious content online, an
all-time high. Social media has made people feel as though they can speak
openly, but technological tools also allow autocrats to target individuals.
Social media users leave traces: words, locations, contacts, network links.
Protesters are betrayed by the phones in their pockets. Regimes criminalized
free speech and expression on social media, prohibiting “insulting the
president” (Belarus), “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” (China),
“discrediting the military” (Russia) or “public disorder” (Cuba).
Ms. Perednya’s case is chilling. She was an honors student at Belarus’s
Mogilev State University. Three days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she
reposted, in a chat on Telegram, another person’s harsh criticism of Mr.
Putin and Mr. Lukashenko, calling for street protests and saying Belarus’s
army should not enter the conflict.
She was arrested the next day while getting off a bus to attend classes.
Judges have twice upheld her 6½-year sentence on charges of “causing damage
to the national interests of Belarus” and “insulting the president.”
That is chilling free speech. That is censorship. You losing your account for
harassing someone is not."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
