This blog post missed #OpenDataDay, but several countries and local governments hosted hackathons to encourage citizens (and bureaucrats) to use government data in their online work. From apps to visualisations to general research, a lot of the Open Data activities are aggregated on this blog. Check out the innovations in your area.
The Arabic phrase "I'm going to join Daesh" trended on Twitter early last week. Perhaps inspired by the Japanese, the Egyptians took to Twitter and other social media outlets to mock the Islamic State (called "Daesh" in many Arabic-speaking countries.) Egyptians mocked the idea that the disaffected join ISIS with statements like "Every time I clean the house the children dirty it again. I'm sick of it. I'm going to join Daesh," and "I have a big problem, there's no more light roast coffee so my wife made me dark roast. I'm going to join Daesh."
In the UAE, the International Government Communication Forum (#IGCF15) gathered together a number of political and social media elites. Some quick highlights:
- Faisal Al Fayez, the First Deputy Speaker of the Jordanian Senate Council, said that military action against IS was a temporary solution. Al Fayez called on governments, academics, and religious leaders to use social media to target the youth to counteract online recruitment tactics used by IS.
- Ben Hammersley (@benhammersley), a journalist and researcher on social networking tools, said social media recruitment by IS affected a “minority of people...The fact that it happens through social media does not make social media the problem.”
- Jared Cohen (@JaredCohen), founder and director of Google Ideas, explained, “When governments try to regulate social media, they inspire their citizens to come up with ways to bypass them.” Cohen said that IS is not particularly "tech savvy" and that “Government communication isn’t about foreign policy all the time, it is [also] about listening to people’s daily problems.”
- Julia Gillard (@JuliaGillardGPE), Former Prime Minister of Australia, pointed out that social media exposes the best and the worst in people, citing the #Illridewithyou campaign to show solidarity with Australian Muslims as an example of the best.
- Former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (@JMDBarroso) said EU governments must engage in social media communication with citizens or risk public alienation.
- Abu Sulayman (@MunaAbuSulayman), a host and media personality, pointed to the change in media habits among Middle Eastern youth. When the most recent royal decree announced the leaders of the new government on live television, "young social media users were actively sharing the pictures and resumes of the newly appointed officials as the decree was being read."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman suspended three diplomats for critical remarks made on Twitter earlier this month. One diplomat suggested the Foreign Minister was "high-handed," and reTweeted journalists' Tweets suggesting that a speech Netanyahu intends to make to US Congress March third will further endanger an already shaky relationship. Another Tweeted, "What is happening to our relations with the United States is madness," and the third accused the Prime Minister of avoiding discussion on social issues.
In Nigeria, Social Media Week (#SMWLagos) kicked off with a live interview between CNBC Africa and Obi Asika (@obiasika), senior special assistant to current President Goodluck Jonathan. President Jonathan faces elections this month, and social media is a key media to the Nigerian electorate. “The most important thing for social media is to provide citizenship engagement for the general public so they can engage with their government on services offered,” Asika explained.
Last Tuesday, Twitter shut down @Urwatu_Wutqa, an account belonging to the Nigerian radical Islamist group Boko Haram. Facebook is also participating in an “increasing clampdown” on the radical group which, up to now, shared content largely aimed at a local audience. However, more recent videos have included subtitles in Arabic and English, suggesting that Boko Haram is hoping to reach a wider audience.
The Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) presented his budget in a livestream video last week and then fielded real-time questions shared via #AskYourFM from his online constituency.
Indian diplomats will soon be required to engage more frequently on social media while investors in India can expect to receive more service from the government via social media. Experts from Facebook, YouTube and Twitter led a training for Indian ambassadors to show these Senior officials how social media could be used to engage users abroad.
Meanwhile, Indians on social media have attacked India's ruling BJP party for defending Section 66 (A) of the IT act (#No66A). Section 66 (A) allows the government to jail individuals that use the internet to cause an "annoyance" or an "offence." Social media protests have pointed out that the BJP actually fought against Section 66 (A) prior to coming to power. Protests have reinstated a social media hashtag from the BJP's own campaign against Section 66 (A): #GOIBlocks (Government of India blocks...).
The Supreme Court of India last Friday demanded that the government take action to stop the spread of rape videos via social media. Two such videos, published to the social network WhatsApp, have surfaced.
The blogger Avijit Roy (@avijit_roy_MM), who founded the blog Mukto-Mona (Free-mind), dedicated to liberal secular writing, was brutally murdered last week in Bangladesh. Joining the USA and the UK, "The EU reiterate[d] its strong attachment to freedom of expression which constitutes an essential element of a democratic society and calls for a prompt investigation to bring perpetrators to justice," the EU delegation in Bangladesh posted on its Facebook page.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, officials took the opportunity of Social Media Week to re-publicise Jakarta Smart City, a web-based platform combining social media, location apps like Qlu, and input from the government to provide everything citizens of the city may need or want to know - including a platform where citizens can submit complaints. So far, interest in the site has been lower than was hoped, but city officials plan to release an app soon that they hope will increase engagement.
In the light of recent scandals - including a social media scam allegedly run by a military officer and a false Twitter account impersonating a high-level general and claiming to offer inside access to military plans - the Indonesian Military (TNI) has issued a warning to personnel to be aware of the dangers of social media use. “This is actually not a ban, but they [military personnel] should know better what is proper to say and what is not,” Air Force spokesperson Commodore Hadi Tjahjanto told The Jakarta Post.
As of Sunday (today), Chinese registering for social media sites will have to register for accounts using their real names (though, once registered, users are free to post under a public pseudonym.) The Chinese government claims registration is necessary to prevent the sharing of false information online; however, external critics believe the rule is designed to limit free speech.
This past week, Chinese social media has widely shared a video of rich Chinese students showing off their expensive cars in Southern California. Chinese students make up 60% of all foreign enrolment growth in the US, and many benefit from China's incredible new wealth despite the fact that almost 100 million Chinese still live below the poverty line.
Chinese social media also debated the #87thOscars# this past week. Posts containing the hashtag were read 110 million times and featured in 50,000 “discussions” or posts on the Sina Weibo microblogging service. Chinese discussed the win of the Snowden documentary Citizenfour and derided the musician Common’s acceptance speech, which mentioned “the people in Hong Kong fighting for democracy.”
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott claimed that his Government's request for more metadata was in the interest of national security - to stop kids from "self-radicalising" online. A report reviewing Australia's counter-terrorism policy, released last week, recommended hiring more staff to deal with the concern. There is also discussion of countering IS propaganda with the Government's own message.
Indonesia and Australia continue to exchange social media communication over the Bali Nine. Two Australians charged with operating a heroin drug ring in Bali await the death penalty despite a social media campaign by Australians to #boycottBali - avoid the island when on vacation - and a request from the Australian Prime Minister.
Unfortunately, a comment by the Australian Prime Minister set off an angry social media campaign in Indonesia. When asking for clemency for the Australians, the PM stated, "Let's not forget that a few years ago when Indonesia was struck by the Indian Ocean tsunami, Australia sent a billion dollars worth of assistance." Indonesians responded with #CoinForAbbott, #KoinuntukAustralia and #CoinForAustralia, snapping photos of coins that they promised to send to "pay back" Australia for its aid. The campaign was supported by the Association of Indonesian Muslim University Students, whose Chairman said, “We call on the Indonesian government to not be afraid of threats or other forms of intervention in connection to the upcoming executions. We are ready to collect coins to return their aid." The former Governor of Aceh, a region hit hard by the tsunami, chastised Indonesians for hurting Australians' feelings with the coin collection. Prime Minister Abbot clarified his remarks later, in light of this Indonesian #electronicgraffiti, saying that he had not meant to threaten Indonesians, "It was a reminder of the facts, of the depth and strength of the relationship between Australia and Indonesia, and I want that relationship to grow stronger, stronger in the weeks and months ahead."
In the USA, Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush also had some trouble with Twitter - and with Facebook. Bush’s PAC, Right to Rise, hired Ethan Czahor (@czahor) as his chief technology officer. However, in light of a number of Tweets in which Czahor made fun of homosexuals and women - posted when Czahor was still a university student - Bush's PAC accepted Czahor's resignation only days after hiring him. The PAC has also hired Communications director Tim Miller, whom they have decided to keep despite an angry Facebook comment in which Miller, who is openly gay, reacted to a federal judge's overruling of the anti-gay marriage act Prop 8 in California. Miller allegedly posted (the post has since been deleted) that Americans are "too stupid" to govern themselves.
After three men in New York were arrested after allegedly trying to travel to Syria this past week, one after posting about his desire to kill US President Barack Obama to his social network, there has been more discussion over the role of social networking companies in supporting terrorists. John Carlin, the assistant attorney general for national security, told a cyberconference this past week that it might be possible to try IS propagandists as terrorists. Such individuals offer terrorists "material support," Carlin suggested. US Congressman Ted Poe in an OpEd suggested that terrorists using social media forfeited their free speech rights under the Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project ruling of the US Supreme Court. The 2010 ruling decided that if someone aided a terrorist organisation, their First Amendment rights were not protected. However, the case did state that the individual or group helping the terrorist organisation had to have a "specific skill" or "specialised knowledge," a quality that is not necessarily reflected in the use of social media tools. There is also debate as to the real power of social media when it comes to inciting action among "armchair terrorists."
At the local levels of government in the USA, the Cherokee Nation’s Facebook and Twitter pages won “Best Use of Social Media by a Government/Public Affairs” by Ragan Communications, the nation’s leading publisher of corporate communications, public relations and leadership development firm. And the first ever 2015 Government Social Media Golden Post Award, looking for excellence in social media from local and state governments, will close public voting on potential winners the 6th of March.
The Jamaican government has employed a social media manager/web manager and a social media officer to better service Jamaicans.
In Venezuela, a protest left a 14-year-old boy dead. His image was widely shared on social media, and the Venezuelan leadership has promised to punish the policeman allegedly responsible for the death. The Venezuelan Ombudsman Tarek Wiliam Saab (@TarekWiliamSaab) condemned the killing on Twitter and again on live television.
Fourteen-year-old Chilean Valentina Maureira, suffering from Cystic fibrosis, posted a YouTube video asking the Chilean President to let her "sleep forever." The request to be euthanised went viral in Chilean social media. However, Presidential spokesman Alvaro Elizalde said "it's impossible not to be overcome by emotion with the girl's request, [but] it's impossible to grant her wish," because it's not allowed under Chilean law.
In Europe, the Belgian Privacy Commission has issued a draft report reviewing Facebook's revised layout and policies: “From social media service to advertising network: A critical analysis of Facebook’s Revised Policies and Terms.” The report is provisional, and “will be updated after further research, deliberation and commentary.” The report found that Facebook's policies and practices are not exactly legal in the European context. Specifically, the social network's data collection has increased significantly both "horizontally" (in the amount of data collected) and "vertically" (with regard to the granular nature of the data), and Facebook's use of its users' data remains opaque and largely of an "opt-out" quality - requiring users to understand what is being collected and choose to tell the social network not to collect or use the data. Moreover, Facebook's ability to revoke services without warning violates European consumer protection laws (the Unfair Contract Terms Directive.)
Jason Isaacson, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) Associate Executive Director for Policy, met with a group of European Parliament members to discuss rising anti-Semitism in Europe. Isaacson suggested modifying European law to allow governments to shut down websites and social media accounts promoting anti-Semitism.
Gunther Oettinger (@GOettingerEU), the European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society said in a speech last week that “The Americans are in the the lead. They've got the data, the business models, and so the power.” However, the Europeans plan to unveil a plan for a "Digital Single Market" in May that will, in theory, bind together the 28 different web markets of the European Union.
The British are planning for upcoming elections, and social media is an essential aspect not only of the political outreach but of the national security debate. Two 15-year-old and one 16-year-old British girls from the same school left the country to go to Syria, allegedly radicalised by IS social media activists like the infamous Jihadi John, recently unveiled to be former Londoner Mohammed Emwazi. The opposing Labour party officials point to the failure of the current Prevent strategy to stop children from being radicalised online and promise to do better when/if elected. At the same time, UK civil servants have been told to be more "social media savvy," and the +SocialGood UK conference on March 27 plans to look at the role social media and technology play in UK politics.
French Ambassador to Denmark François Zimeray Tweeted that he was "still alive in the room" after shots were fired at his Café in Copenhagen. A Wall Street Journal post discusses whether this was a brilliant example of digital diplomacy or a security breach.
The French videos aiming to counter IS propaganda with images of the "hell on earth" created by the IS militants have now been mocked by IS propagandists on social media. IS videos mimicking the French videos criticise the French government and accuse it of hypocrisy and censorship. French and Belgian Muslims are also critical of the French campaign to contradict IS. The Belgian organization named Muslim Rights Against Islamophobia claimed the French campaign is "full of generalizations and conflations."
Spain succeeded in bringing down an online network dedicated to recruiting women for IS last Tuesday. Suspects charged with operating Internet platforms promoting IS propaganda and recruitment were arrested in Melilla, Barcelona, and Girona. In addition to recruiting women online, the individuals charged also set up private meetings in homes to recruit followers and help them plan to travel to Syria.
Italians were amused when IS used the hashtag #We_Are_Coming_O_Rome in an attempt to scare them. Instead, Italians used the hashtag to share travel tips - including traffic information and food recommendations - with IS.
Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) noted in an interview that it would be "irresponsible" for the Finnish Government not to maintain a social media presence.
A social media study noted that Greece has much more support than Germany on social media.The Greek Prime Minister and Finance Minister have twice as much support online as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The German Finance Minister is even less popular than Merkel. The study suggests that current social media trends perceive Germany as a bully in the bail out discussion.
In light of upcoming elections, Turkey continues to debate the role of social media in popular discourse. Rumours fly that the opposition Hizmet party has embedded spies in the current Turkish Government and that these spies are leaking embarrassing and sensitive material to the public via social media. Hizmet denies this. At the same time, the ruling AKP party is cracking down more and more on social media critics - even a former Miss Turkey is facing prison for instagram posts that allegedly criticise President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The model shared a poem that someone had adapted in way that could be read as critical to the Turkish President.
Turkish men are joining the protests for women's rights in Turkey. Men are donning miniskirts and posting pictures of themselves with the hashtag #ozgecanicinminietekgiy, or wear a mini for Ozgecan,the young Turkish woman brutally raped and murdered in February.
A Russian opposition leader Boris Y. Nemtsov was shot and killed last week. Other opposition leaders called attention to the murder on social media. “They have started to kill ‘enemies of the people,’ ” the former opposition member of Parliament Gennady Gudkov posted on Twitter.
There will be no newsletter next week - I'll be traveling. Send me any suggestions on how to improve this newsletter. It's an experiment I started six months ago, and my subscription list has grown a bit, so I'm hopeful you'll have some ideas about how to make this more useful.
For more this week, I recommend reading New Age Terrorism and New Media, by Gabriel Weimann, of the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.
And, as always, for more, follow @Linda_Margaret on Twitter.
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