"Following the revolutions, the battle for the Arab blogosphere has turned from being a competition over accessing the Internet and circumventing government controls to a cyberwar for the predominant narrative through Facebook, Twitter, and traditional media [...] Social media is reinvigorating trad ... itional print and broadcast media, including satellite networks, which are adopting multi-platform strategies [...] Social media is serving as political cover: News outlets are recognizing the benefit of using social media to preempt official repercussions by disseminating sensitive stories first on social media sites and in other cases to gauge possible reaction before going to print or air [...] Numerous media observers and professionals have complained that professional journalists, citizen journalists, bloggers, activists, and pro-government contributors in the region lack ethics, do not understand libel, practice incitement, and fail to meet other international journalism and legal standards [...] While user-generated content is plentiful, authenticating this content can take up valuable resources. Training for citizen journalists and non-journalists who are online would help established media outlets and the public to gauge the accuracy and authenticity of news and information." (Executive summary, page 8-9) more

"Key Findings: About 17 million people in the Arab region are using Facebook, available in Arabic, with 5 million in Egypt alone, and demand is expected to grow on micro-blogging sites. Twitter announced it will launch its Arabic interface in 2011; Arab governments are developing, at varying rates, ... the telecommunications infrastructure for greater Internet connectivity through broadband, mobile Internet, and fiber optic cable to the home for increased Internet speeds and capacities to meet future demands of digital economies and youth, who comprise about half of the regional population; Along with technical capacities come increasing efforts to monitor, filter, and block websites, and harass, arrest, and incarcerate activists or citizens for their online writings. Sites of NGOs and others critical of government have withstood cyber-attacks on content and e-mail accounts; Even when Internet users are not breaching traditional red lines, authorities in the region call upon emergency laws, cyber crimes laws, anti-terrorism laws, ISPs’ terms and conditions, and press and publications laws that provide justification for the arrest, fines, and incarceration of individuals for certain online writing or related activities." (Summary) more