Social media censorship concerns in Latin America. Preview for us?

Very selective suspension

In Nicaragua, just before the November 7 election, the accounts of thousands of journalists and FSLN (ruling majority party) left-wing activists were taken offline, both on Twitter and Facebook.

The profiles were taken offline under the pretext of being left-wing trolls by current Nicaraguan President Ortega. Ben Norton, journalist Creoson He is currently in Nicaragua and personally knows dozens of Nicaraguans whose accounts have been audited. He confirms that they are real people trying to express their own opinion. They are not trolls, bots or fake accounts.

For many of them, this is the second or third time their Facebook and Twitter accounts have been censored. This was mainly in response to a violent, US-backed right-wing coup attempt in 2018.

Strike: The zero accounts of the right-wing opposition were deactivated.

Individuals are not the only ones affected. Major Nicaraguan media outlets offering a pro-Sandinist perspective were also eliminated. For example, the Sandinista newspaper Barricada, which has more than 65,000 followers, or Redvolución, a popular youth-run left-wing media outlet with more than 81,000 followers.

Instagram has also suspended the account of Nicaragua Dicena, the most popular fashion organization in Nicaragua and has more than 42,700 followers.

Strike: The zero accounts of the right-wing opposition were deactivated.

Political censorship

Several Nicaraguan journalists said social media accounts had been suspended Creoson That they were so angry. For many years they worked patiently on creating their own pages and wide networks. All those jobs were destroyed in seconds by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

In this way, because social media is an integral part of contemporary journalism, journalists are significantly prevented from doing their job. For others, it’s about bread looting because they get extra revenue streams through social media.

But there are also important political implications. Taking multiple accounts offline at the same time can have a significant impact on the outcome of an election.

It is clear that this is a controlled election interference by big tech companies. The US administration, which has already announced that it will not recognize the election results, is marching in the same direction. Congress has also announced new tough sanctions against Nicaragua. Even better it is Facebook Security Committee Led by former U.S. government officials.

“This is clearly political censorship because I support the Nicaraguan government, which is why they have decided that my opinion, or my way of thinking, is not appropriate under Facebook’s absurd policy,” said one journalist who was fired.

Even better it is Facebook Security Committee Led by former U.S. government officials.

The scope of great technology is twofold. First, they want to silence the ‘wrong’ side in their view – thus affecting the course of the election. Second, they gain a better grip on reporting on the course of the election. The ‘perfect’ version can be easily accepted by Nigerians and the international community.

A continuous pattern

Nicaragua is no different. Here we see a recurrence once in recent years. In Cuba, anti-government protests on July 11 this year were sparked by sponsored posts, trolls from abroad and some social media accounts.

For example, similar interference is seen in elections Venezuela In 2015. Before that 2015 election, the National Trust for Democracy (NED),[1] A “non-profit” largely funded by the US Congress has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of the opposition through social media.

Winning or losing elections is high on social media. The fact that the media is privately owned and have a clear right-wing agenda should sound the alarm.

The money was spent on training opposition leaders on how to use social media effectively. Databases of millions of Venezuelans were also created. A few weeks before the election they were attacked by all sorts of news, in which, among other things, government candidates were tarnished. The media manipulation was successful. The opposition won the parliamentary elections for the first time in almost 20 years.

Warning bells

In Trump’s 2016 election victory, Russia was blamed for social media manipulation. Something like this seems to be a rough point, often counted at the time. Big Tech of the United States, with or without consultation with the government, now seems to have been doing the same thing in various countries for years.

Winning or losing elections is high on social media. The fact that the media is privately owned and have a clear right-wing agenda should sound the alarm. If not already we can not leave it

Source: Creoson

Note:

[1] Said Alan Weinstein, former president of NED Honest mood“Most of what we do today was done secretly by the CIA 25 years ago.” (Version)