Vol. 34, No. 05
March 5, 2018
Game of Trolls: The Sinister Face of Facebook
Facebook, which was sold as a medium wherein citizens could counter government propaganda, now provides tools to governments to squash dissent. ...
Oppressive governments around the world have realized that social media have become powerful alternative voices to official propaganda, so governments have not stopped looking for ways to combat political and social dissent on those media. Governments persecute dissenting voices either by openly denying access to the Internet and social media or by harassing critics, especially during elections or turbulent events. We have seen such trends in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, in countries such as Russia, China, Turkey, and many others. Such governments quickly craft laws to justify their crackdown on Internet communication, wrapping them under notions of “public safety,” “terrorism,” “extremism,” “traditional values,” “treason,” “indecency,” etc.
However, lately oppressive governments have discovered a more subtle, but equally effective, way to censor and harass political opponents by using Facebook’s Community Standards as a weapon against dissent.
When Facebook and Twitter were founded a decade ago, they heralded a new era in which the voices of ordinary citizens could be heard alongside — or even above — those of establishment insiders. From the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street to demonstrations against Russia’s Vladimir Putin, activists have used social media to attract followers and broadcast their messages free from official oversight. But increasingly, authoritarian regimes are deploying social media to disseminate official propaganda and crack down on dissent. What began as a tool of freedom is being turned into a weapon of repression.
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