Type: Blog Post
By Gideon Sarpong Social media advocates have historically lauded its ability to facilitate democratic progress by connecting people over space and time, enabling faster and wider mobilization than ever before. However, in recent years, this optimism has faded, and platforms have also become effecti...

Type: Blog Post
By Carlos Affonso Souza Director, Institute for Technology and Society (ITS), Rio de Janeiro Every day we generate more data: our schedules, itineraries, preferences, activities and even our relationships are increasingly quantified. What then is the impact of this explosion of data – potenti...

Type: Blog Post
Internet Freedom Rates Show Negative Convergence Worldwide Guest post by Christopher Walker and Robert W. Orttung. Not all that long ago, it was widely assumed that the Internet would set off geysers of information everywhere, with political change sure to follow. Instead, it looks as if methods for...

Type: Blog Post
By Jonathan Hew Prompted by global concerns around “fake news,” Singapore has joined a growing list of governments that have put forward a legislative answer. The country’s “Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, “POFMA,” came into force in early October. Despite repeate...

Type: Blog Post
By Senami Kojah Nigeria’s ever-increasing security concerns are being weaponized by the government to crack down on news media in the country and shrink civic space. The moves pose a clear threat to citizens’ right to free speech and their ability to hold authorities accountable. A few days afte...

Type: Blog Post
By Pham Muoi Nguyen and Dr. Quan-Hoang Vuong  Vietnam has long been a place where media and newspapers are under strict control both by the government as well as the propaganda departments of the communist party. Although the country has more than 850 newspapers and magazines, the homogeneity in ...

Type: Blog Post
This post originally appeared on softcensorship.org. WAN-IFRA Don Podesta, manager and editor at the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) based within the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in Washington D.C., published ‘Soft Censorship: How governments around the globe use money t...

Type: Blog Post
By Patricio Provitina The digital revolution has changed the way audiences around the globe access and consume information, while also shaking up traditional media business models. Citizens with Internet connections have access to high quality information and a diverse market-place of ideas, knowled...

Type: Blog Post
By Gideon Sarpong Last year’s avalanche of media stories about Meta (formerly Facebook), capped by revelations from the whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former product manager for the company, has put a spotlight on Facebook and how the platform could exercise greater transparency to allow citizens...

Type: Blog Post
Update: Late on Wednesday, March 21, the Turkish Parliament approved the bill to give the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) authority to regulate online broadcasting. A daunting blow to one of the country’s few remaining spaces for free expression, the regulation will require online out...