"This report proposes solutions on how best to equip journalists and other key actors to fulfil their vital role in a changing landscape. While censorship is an alluring option in the face of disinformation over the internet, it is important to find avenues to facilitate the responsible and ethical
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use of the medium." (Acknowledgements)
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"With the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) package, the European Union will adopt what is probably the most significant international standard-setting project besides the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It is expected that the DSA will have far-reaching impact
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beyond the EU. This legal opinion deals with concrete questions on the effectiveness of the DSA, as well as in the areas of conflict with freedom of communication and dissemination of disinformation. The opinion concerns the draft published by the European Commission in December 2020." (Executive summary, page 5)
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"In the late 2010s, the Internet overtook television as the most popular media format in Russia. It was also the time when Russian-speaking YouTube went political: well-known bloggers started producing political content, opposition politicians became the most popular YouTubers, and finally mainstrea
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m journalists migrated to the platform, a move precipitated by Covid-19 isolation when the demand for Russian-speaking content on YouTube skyrocketed. Therefore, it came as no surprise that when the war started it was YouTube that became the main battlefield for independent Russian journalists, including those who had moved out of the country. However, YouTube was also used by Russian propaganda for years with great effect. For that reason, the Russian government was hesitant to block YouTube, unlike other global platforms that Kremlin censors blocked immediately after the war started. That provided time for Russian users to adapt and install censorship circumvention tools. The other platform that was not immediately blocked was Telegram, and Russian journalists didn’t miss that opportunity to talk to their audience either." (Summary, page 4)
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"Der Journalist und Verleger Sergej Parkhomenko ist ein international gefeierter Menschenrechtsverteidiger, Oppositionsaktivist und unter den russischen Medienschaffenden einer der wichtigsten Partner für das Internationale Journalisten- und Mediendialogprogramm (IJMD) der Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftun
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g für die Freiheit . Als entschiedener Gegner der russischen Invasion in der Ukraine setzt er von Europa aus seine Arbeit gegen den russischen Eroberungskrieg und wider die Putin-Diktatur fort. Im Impulspapier berichtet Parkhomenko über den Überlebenskampf des unabhängigen Journalismus unter den totalitären Repressionsmaßnahmen in Russland." (https://shop.freiheit.org)
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"La Relatoría Especial para personas defensoras de derechos humanos de Naciones Unidas, en 2011, definió las estigmatizaciones como la caracterización de personas defensoras como “terroristas”, “enemigas del Estado” u “oponentes políticos” por parte de autoridades estatales y medios
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de comunicación estatales y su uso para deslegitimar su trabajo, incrementando su vulnerabilidad a sufrir abusos y violaciones a derechos humanos. El CDJ ha registrado los eventos de estigmatización en contra de personas defensoras a derechos humanos entre enero de 2019 y junio de 2021 en Venezuela, a través de medios de comunicación, públicos y privados, que tienen vínculos con el gobierno. A menudo estos medios de comunicación, que pueden tener forma de portales web, programas de televisión y blogs, entre otros, utilizan los espacios para atacar, exponer y hostigar a personas que son percibidas como críticas al gobierno de Nicolás Maduro. Al analizar la base de datos con más de 300 eventos de estigmatización entre enero 2019 y junio de 2021. Los medios de comunicación que se repitieron con más frecuencia antes de que se produzcan arrestos por parte de las fuerzas de seguridad venezolanas fueron “Con el Mazo Dando”, “Misión Verdad” y el portal web “Lechuguinos” [...] La correlación entre detenciones arbitrarias por motivos políticos, llevadas a cabo por todos los agentes de seguridad estatal, y las estigmatizaciones, realizadas por todas las fuentes de estigmatización, se filtró por cada año que está bajo análisis debido a la distinta naturaleza de cada período. De este análisis se obtuvo que mientras en 2019 la correlación general entre ambas variables era de 29%, en 2020 aumentó al 42% y en el primer semestre de 2021 llegó hasta el 77%. Las correlaciones anuales entre las detenciones arbitrarias y las estigmatizaciones también varían dependiendo de los distintos cuerpos de seguridad involucrados en la detención. Así, hay una correlación más estrecha en 2019 con las detenciones que se producen por los órganos de inteligencia (DGCIM y SEBIN), en 2020 por los órganos dependientes de la PNB, incluyendo las FAES, que sube hasta el 92%, y en 2021 por órganos de naturaleza civil y descentralizados, como las FAES, los cuerpos de policía municipal y el Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas (CICPC) que también sube al 92% de correlación con las estigmatizaciones." (Resumen ejecutivo, página 6-8)
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"This joint submission was prepared for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Indonesia in November 2022. In it, Amnesty International and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) evaluate the implementation of recommendations made to Indonesia in its previous UPR, including in relation to hum
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an rights issues in Papua, attacks and intimidations towards human rights defenders, and discrimination against religious minorities. It also assesses the national human rights framework with regard to, especially, civic space. This submission highlights problematic laws that may threaten the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, such as treason and blasphemy offences in the Criminal Code, and the Electronic Information and Transactions (EIT) Law which criminalises hate speech and defamation. This submission also discusses the lack of a comprehensive framework for the protection of human rights defenders and environmental activists. With regard to the human rights situation on the ground, Amnesty International and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) raise concern about the state of shrinking civic space in Indonesia, indicated by, but not limited to, the increasing attacks - both physical and digital - faced by human rights defenders and journalists, as well as criminalisation of peaceful protests and political expressions using problematic laws." (Summary)
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"Instead of criminalising or otherwise silencing people to address misinformation and disinformation, States should step up their efforts to ensure credible, reliable, objective, evidence-based and accessible information is disseminated to all." (Back cover)
"Between January 2019 and May 2022, Amnesty International recorded at least 328 physical and/or digital attacks directed against civil society, resulting in a total of at least 834 victims. The victims include human rights defenders (HRDs), activists, journalists, environmental defenders, students,
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and protestors, while the alleged perpetrators of the attacks and intimidation include both state and non-state actors. This report highlights recent repressive tendencies in Indonesia with reference to some of the cases recorded by Amnesty International between January 2019 and May 2022. The report is based on 52 interviews carried out with HRDs, activists, students, lawyers and journalists, as well as media reports and case files. The report exposes how the space for civil society in Indonesia has shrunk during this period as a result of an ongoing assault on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, personal security and freedom from arbitrary detention." (Executive summary)
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"This document looks into the human rights violations committed against two specific groups who play important roles for the enjoyment of the right to peaceful assembly. The first group – public assembly monitors – performs a watchdog function by recording how rigorously the authorities observe
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their human rights obligations in the context of public assemblies. The other group – media workers – ensures that society is informed about public assemblies and concerns that have brought people to the streets, and reports on how the protests have been handled by the authorities. The report documents a pattern of unlawful obstruction of journalists’ and monitors’ work during street protests, and severe reprisals against them including arbitrary arrests, use of unlawful force, detention and heavy fines." (Back cover)
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"Es un documento de análisis desarrollado por las organizaciones que integran el Espacio_OSC resultado de encuentros con personas defensoras de derechos humanos y periodistas realizados en Oaxaca y la Ciudad de México, con el objetivo de abonar a la generación de una política pública integral.
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El documento establece cuatro ejes estratégicos para que el Estado garantice el derecho a defender los derechos humanos y a la libertad de expresión: prevención, protección, investigación, reparación y garantías de no repetición, acciones prioritarias el tránsito a un nuevo modelo de política pública." (https://espacio.osc.mx)
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"El presente ensayo que usted tiene entre sus manos trata sobre las consideraciones y desafíos entorno a la agenda de la privacidad y protección de datos personales en las redes sociales digitales. El autor hace mención reiteradamente sobre las implicaciones que tiene en el ámbito legal; pero si
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empre poniendo en el centro la discusión sobre los usuarios de las redes sociales, lo que implica hacer efectivas las medidas necesarias para proteger la privacidad, así como el uso apropiado y proporcional de sus datos personales, los cuales, no pueden quedarse en el vacio, apelando a su vez por el uso racional y proporcional de los datos en los medios digitales." (Presentación, página 9)
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"It did not take long after the first Russian tanks rolled across the border into Ukraine for the Russian government to tighten its censorship laws. The Duma (parliament), the media supervisory authority Roskomnadzor, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the Ministry of Justice joined forces to com
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bat any media that might threaten the Kremlin’s control over how the ›special operation‹ in Ukraine is viewed. Rushed through, the new laws target allegedly ›false information‹ and set out both large fines and custodial sentences of up to 15 years. Numerous independent media websites were blocked, and at least 150 journalists were forced into exile by a wave of repression. Yet their voices have not been silenced – they have found new ways and formats, even in other languages and from other countries. How do independent journalists manage to provide truthful, critical reporting under conditions of wartime ensorship? Which channels do they use to ask questions that the Kremlin does not want to hear, and give answers that Roskomnadzor would not allow? Where do they find scope for free reporting? How do users get around blocks online? An insight into a media andscape divided into two worlds: before and after February 24, 2022." (Abstract)
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"The spread of social media platforms ushered the beginning of an unprecedented communication era, which is borderless, immediate, widespread, and defies restrictions and censorship. Digital technology aided the spread of democracy and freedom of expression and helped to overthrow some Arab regimes
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in 2011. At that time, it was believed that these platforms paved the way for democracy by allowing citizens to easily circumvent governmental censorship, and by facilitating communication, networking, and organization among activists, thus weakening authoritarian regimes. These assumptions were overly optimistic, as the detours in democratization and political reform in the Arab region over a decade later illustrate. This article tackles the exploitation of new media, and the laws and regulations governing them, by Arab authoritarian regimes to crack down on opponents, activists, and journalists, oftentimes under the mantle of fighting disinformation, using a plethora of techniques. It also illustrates how disinformation could spread rapidly through governmentally orchestrated campaigns via new communication tools, causing serious political consequences and high risks to activists and journalists, while aiding counter revolutions. The constraining implications of these complex phenomena on Arab journalism will be explored, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic." (Abstract)
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"Press freedom is said to be a necessary pillar of democracy. As many sub-Saharan African nations move towards creating or strengthening democracies, examining their levels of press freedom may be an important element. This study utilizes public opinion data from 10 nations in the sub-Saharan Africa
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n region and international press freedom rankings from Reporters Without Borders to better understand both how important (or not) citizens view press freedom to be in their country and how those beliefs compare to global metrices between 2011 and 2018. Results show clear differences in citizen beliefs about press freedom across countries, but no clear relationship between citizen beliefs and global rankings. A connection between individual perceptions and global rankings may take more time to manifest, and/or a nation’s cultural values and political landscape likely have the strongest impact on citizen beliefs." (Abstract)
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"This article provides an overview of Internet shutdowns in Pakistan, which have become an increasingly common phenomenon, with 41 occurring between 2012 and 2017. It argues that to understand how shutdowns became normalized in Pakistan, it is necessary to look at the specific dynamics of how the sh
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utdowns take place. In doing so, the concept of communicative ruptures develops to better understand intentional government shutdowns of communications. The article argues that strategic prevention of mobilization is key for short-term shutdowns, whereas long-term shutdowns can be better explained by looking at disciplinary mechanisms and denying the existence of “others.” The article then discusses Internet shutdowns in the wider context of authoritarian practices before concluding with the urgent need for further research on this topic, both in Pakistan and beyond." (Abstract)
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"This report provides a Europe-wide overview of lawsuits that are taken to stifle scrutiny and public debate on issues such as corruption, mismanagement of public resources, and human rights violations. Such lawsuits, known as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) are taken by pow
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erful individuals in society not necessarily to win cases, but to drag their critics through legal processes that drain them financially and psychologically and ultimately prevent them from exercising their fundamental rights (including freedom of expression or freedom of assembly and association)." (Abstract)
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