Global Voices Advox

Articles by Global Voices Advox

People protest the taking into custody of those who post political content on social media, at Samir Kassir Square in Beirut, Lebanon, 24 July 2018, Wassim Samih Seifeddine/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Lebanon ramps up interrogations of online activists

Lebanese security agencies are ramping up the interrogation and censorship of online activists and journalists.

Mourners hold candles and placards during a vigil hours after an explosion left 20 dead in the first major attack ahead of July 25 polls, Lahore, India, 2018, ARIF ALI/AFP/Getty Images

Bombings in Pakistan ahead of elections kill 170 people

The attacks targeted political rallies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces and have spread fears across the country.

A family stand by a snowman at the entrance of a camp for Syrian refugees in the eastern Lebanese town of Arsal, 9 January 2015, Maya Hautefeuille/AFP/Getty Images

Journalist sentenced to prison in absentia, for ‘defaming’ foreign minister on Facebook

A Lebanese journalist was sentenced to four months in prison and a fine of 10 million Lebanese lira (roughly USD $6,660) for ‘defaming’ acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Gebran Bassil in a Facebook post.

Aron Demeter, Amnesty International press officer, poses next to posters that were placed on the office's door by members of the youth wing of the Fidesz party in Budapest, Hungary, 27 June 2018; the posters read (in the red dot) 'organisation supporting immigration' and (R) '(...) Do not connect the question of Migration and Terrorism (...), FERENC ISZA/AFP/Getty Images

Hungary: New anti-immigrant laws shrink space for civil society

Newly passed ‘Stop Soros’ laws criminalising anyone who helps migrants meet with international condemnation.

A man speaks on a mobile phone at a shop displaying a T-shirt of US President Barack Obama in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 16 April 2009, MAURICIO DUENAS/AFP/Getty Images

Will Trinidad and Tobago’s cybercrime bill stifle media freedom?

Legislators in Trinidad and Tobago are taking aim at a spate of pernicious issues online – ranging from hate to phishing and fraud – with a draft cybercrime law, following in the footsteps of many governments around the world that have passed comprehensive legislation addressing online crimes.

An internet cafe in Saigon, Vietnam, 15 July 2009, Flickr photo by toyohara (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Vietnam’s Cybersecurity Law threatens free speech and digital economy

Critics warn that the sweeping new law could increase online censorship, undermine privacy, worsen attacks on free expression, and damage Vietnam’s tech sector.

Two women look at a computer and their mobile phones in a coffee shop in Tehran, Iran, 13 October 2013, Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images

Telegram channel creator could get death penalty for “insulting the Prophet”

Hamidreza had created a Telegram channel where anyone could post her/his views; the IRGC held him responsible for everything others had written.

Egyptian army officers monitor local and international TV stations and websites at the military press office department in Cairo, 16 June 2012, -/AFP/GettyImages

In another blow for free speech, Egypt’s parliament passes cybercrime law

On June 5, Egypt’s parliament approved a cybercrime law that will dictate what is and is not permissible in the realms of online censorship, data privacy, hacking, fraud and messages.