There's been a lot of censorship for example on social media, which I've experienced myself when posting content in support of Palestine.
The argument put forward was that those cases represented instances of free speech rather than hate speech.
You know, even with social media - there is censorship.
That being said, I do think social media is making free speech more accessible, despite the censorship.
To the point where we've now had South Africa take Israel to trial at the International Court of Justice for genocide, using evidence from social media videos that went viral.
One is the issues around speech on social media platforms, and I've of course followed and worked on the Palestinian campaigns quite closely and I'm very aware of the BSR report.
Video content, specifically, that's found on social media being used in tribunals.
I guess what social media is doing is it's giving a voice to those who are often voiceless.
Mass media were so trusted, to the point where no one would have paid attention to these alternative viewpoints.
What social media has done I think it's made people become more aware or more critical of mass media and how it shapes public opinion.
Social media is providing a voice to more diverse people, elevating them and giving the public more control around narratives.
Now people all over the world are paying more attention and advocating for Sudanese and Congolese rights, thanks to social media.
I personally was raised with quite a critical view of mass media, I think in my family there was a general distrust of the West, their policies and their media, so I never really relied personally on the media as this beacon of truth, but I do think that's an exception.
I think the majority of people rely on mass media as their source of truth.
So social media plays an important role in keeping them accountable and diversifying narratives.
So I think on social media, again, it's very documented, but it's this kind of constant censorship.
There've been random strategies that have popped up to increase social media engagement, like posting random content unrelated to Palestine or creating Instagram polls for example.
The last strand I'd include, actually, that I already touched on, is the mass media.
I think it was really powerful when he was arguing the need to stop giving the West and mass media this power, and that we need to disempower them by ceasing to rely on them as beacons of truth, rather than working on changing them.
Instead, we need to turn to Palestinians, and to brave cultural workers, knowledge producers, academics, journalists, activists, and social media commentators who understand the meaning of oppression and view them as the passionate, angry and, most importantly, reliable narrators that they are.
This Cyber News was published on www.eff.org. Publication date: Tue, 16 Apr 2024 20:28:03 +0000