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Censorship

A collection of 845 articles

Belarus: New Laws Target Critics in Exile

(Vilnius, December 22, 2022) – Belarusian parliament passed legislative amendments to a 2002 citizenship law that could be used to target members of the political opposition, activists, and other critics in exile, Human Rights Watch said today. The draft law, if endorsed by the president, would allow the president to strip

Russian Forces Forcibly Disappear Ukrainian Activist

(Kyiv, December 22) – Russian forces forcibly disappeared Iryna Horobtsova, a resident of Kherson, Ukraine, in May 2022, and are understood to have unlawfully transferred her to Russian-occupied Crimea, where they are holding her incommunicado, Human Rights Watch said today. Horobtsova, 37, is an IT expert. Her family says that she

The Year of the Gaslighter

Well, it has been quite a year, 2022.

DISCUSS: Mass shootings, “conspiracy theories” & free speech

This past month has seen an influx of news stories, all somehow featuring the supposed negative effects of “online misinformation”, “hate speech” and/or “conspiracy theories”. In New Zealand a few days ago, one couple had their baby placed in the care of a hospital after refusing to approve a

Hong Kong: Media Tycoon Trial a Travesty

(New York) – The authorities in Hong Kong should immediately drop the baseless charges against Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy media tycoon, and unconditionally release him and his six co-defendants, Human Rights Watch said today. Lai’s trial is scheduled to resume on December 13, 2022. Hong Kong authorities have called on

Swimming with Sharks

So, Elon Musk’s new free-speech Twitter appears to be going extremely well.

Twitter Files: Executives Met with Federal Agencies Amid Hunter Biden Laptop Scandal, Allowed FBI to Report Tweets

Elon Musk’s Twitter released another batch of internal discussions on Friday, which revealed that executives at the social media company had met with federal agencies amid the Hunter Biden laptop story, and that the FBI reported tweets it didn’t like to workers at the company. On Friday night,

Russia: Harsh Sentence For Opposition Politician

(New York) – A Moscow court on December 9, 2022, sentenced a Russian opposition politician to eight and a half years in prison with an additional four-year ban on use of the internet, in continued efforts to dismantle and decapitate Russia’s peaceful political opposition and silence any criticism of the

'Visibility Filtering:' Twitter Files Reveals Shadowbanning, Other Tools Used to Censor Conservatives

A new Twitter Files investigation has revealed the many tools that company executives employed to blacklist and shadowban conservative voices.

Indonesia: New Criminal Code Disastrous for Rights

(Jakarta) – The Indonesian parliament passed a new criminal code on December 6, 2022, containing provisions that seriously violate international human rights law and standards, Human Rights Watch said today. Articles in the new code violate the rights of women, religious minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and

Greece: Problematic Surveillance Bill

(Athens, December 8, 2022) – Greece’s lawmakers are considering a draft surveillance law that lacks effective privacy and human rights safeguards, Human Rights Watch said today.

Poland: Lawmaker Faces Charges for Pro-Choice Protest

(Berlin) – Poland’s government should immediately drop charges against a member of parliament who participated in a pro-choice protest and stop targeting reproductive rights activists, Human Rights Watch said today. On November 29, 2022, the Toruń prosecutor’s office charged Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, a member of the Left (Lewica) party, with

'Everyone Knew This Was F*cked:' Elon Musk Releases Twitter's Internal Convos on Hunter Biden Laptop Censorship

Elon Musk’s Twitter released internal discussions about censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story Friday night via journalist Matt Taibbi.

Elon Musk: Twitter Has 'Interfered in Elections'

Elon Musk claimed in a recent tweet that Twitter has “failed in trust & safety for a very long time and has interfered in elections.” Musk, the new owner of the platform, has promised to release internal documents to restore public trust in the company. In a recent tweet, Twitter owner