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Tag: Freedom of Speech
ADL faces Wikipedia ban over reliability concerns on Israel, antisemitism
Wikipedia’s editors have voted to declare the Anti-Defamation League “generally unreliable” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding it to a list of banned and partially banned sources.
ADL faces Wikipedia ban over reliability concerns on Israel, antisemitism
Ukraine Detains Socialist Writer, Bans World Socialist Web Site | Russia Formally Charges WSJ Journalist with Spying for the CIA
At least Ukraine doesn’t discriminate, when it comes to detaining writers.
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It should be noted that similar jailings are taking place in Russia, with some hitting close to home. This past December, Russians arrested Boris Kagarlitsky, a longtime Moscow Times contributor who was the main writer on the “Russian Dissent” Substack sponsored by this site. Boris, a socialist himself but not connected in any way to the WSWS, was denounced as an “inoagent” (a foreign agent) and given a five year sentence, which Russian authorities called “excessively lenient.” The case is one of the more absurd in the history of speech offenses. Kagarlitsky was initially accused of making light of a 2022 explosion on the Krimsky Bridge linking Russia to Crimea, thanks to a video titled “Explosive Congratulations to the Cat Mostik,” sarcastically putting a cat in the frame for the blast. The Russian news agency TASS noted Kagarlitsky’s “negative attitude toward authorities,” and Boris remains in prison. We’re trying to get more information about his status.
Mostik isn’t just any cat! Mostik = Bridge. Mostik is the mascot of the Crimean Bridge. Petty criticism, maybe. Anyway, I’m not surprised that the West is ignoring anyone detained in Ukraine for speech issues while screeching about ‘freedom of the press’ and ‘human rights’ in Russia.
Related:
A ‘myriad’ of front organizations had “Media Unlocked” banned from TikTok
China Daily’s ‘Media Unlocked’ TikTok account banned
Media Unlocked’s accounts on Facebook, YouTube, and X, which are not flagged as government media outfits, are still up, however. Felipe F. Salvosa II

IN-DEPTH: AI bolsters China state media’s TikTok offensive to influence narrative on sea dispute
Seeking credibility, China Daily’s ‘Media Unlocked’ TikTok passes off opinion as news
CNN:
Erin Burnett OutFront May 23, 2024 1PM Transcript
“RIPLEY (voice-over): Chinese state media is using A.I.-enhanced videos on TikTok, altering the reporter’s voice and face. A disclosure on screen for just a few seconds, easy to miss.
[01:39:52]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Under China’s jurisdiction.
RIPLEY: The video is pushing Beijing’s narrative on the South China Sea.
Is this a threat to democracy?
FELIPE SALVOSA II, JOURNALISM PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS: Most definitely. I think China has found a more cost-effective way to get its message across.
RIPLEY: Turning today’s digital landscape into a battleground for truth, where seeing is no longer believing.
Every time I do a story about these deepfake videos, what strikes me is the quality keeps improving. Our researcher (INAUDIBLE) spent hours putting these through algorithms to determine with 99 percent accuracy whether these videos are real, whether they’re fake, whether the voice has been altered, the face has been altered. Who on social media has time for that and a lot of people don’t take the time which experts say is dangerous, particularly in democracies when people are watching these videos and then potentially using the information they hear to make decisions about how to vote.

South Korea to resume loudspeaker broadcasts at DPRK
South Korea to resume loudspeaker broadcasts at DPRK
The “Fighters for Free North Korea*” group claimed to have sent balloons containing USB thumb drives loaded with K-pop music and 200,000 leaflets criticizing Kim Jong Un, while another group of DPRK defectors dispatched balloons containing anti-Pyongyang leaflets, radios, and USB thumb drives featuring a speech by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
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In 2020, South Korea’s Constitutional Court invalidated a law criminalizing the sending of anti-Pyongyang propaganda, citing it as an undue restriction on free speech**. Consequently, experts argue that there are currently no legal grounds for the government to intervene in activists’ balloon launches into the DPRK. The South Korean Unification Ministry stated that the issue is being deliberated in light of the 2023 court ruling.
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Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have endured for an extended period as a result of systemic escalation on the part of Japan, the US, and South Korea.
The three nations have been conducting joint naval drills in the peninsula and along the demilitarized zone, which has triggered major security concerns on the part of DPRK.
Related:
Read More »Why Biden’s New Bill is So Terrifying
U.S. Funds Ukraine Groups Censoring Critics, Smearing Pro-Peace Voices + More
American taxpayers are footing the bill for Ukrainian NGOs focused on smearing proponents of a diplomatic solution as “Russian disinformation” agents.
U.S. Funds Ukraine Groups Censoring Critics, Smearing Pro-Peace Voices
Related:
U.S. Helps Pro-Ukraine Media Run a Fog Machine of War + Supporting Front Orgs
Pro-Russian “disinformation” network
Ukraine’s ‘Press Freedom’ Score Increases Despite Martial Law, Banned Media
Read More »The Short Leash
“The first is the right to free speech and for people to peacefully assemble and make their voices heard. The second is the rule of law. Both must be upheld. We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent.”
Joe Biden. May 2, 2024
Persecution of media, bans, Nazi symbols: Ukraine abolishes human rights
This was also recognized by the US State Department.
At the end of April, Ukraine submitted an application to the Council of Europe for a partial suspension of certain clauses of the European Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms in the country due to martial law. Ukrainian media also reported that in territories where martial law has been introduced, the military command can carry out the forced alienation of objects of private or communal property for the needs of the state and issue the relevant documents; impose a curfew; establish a special regime for entry and exit, limit the freedom of movement of citizens, foreigners and stateless persons; carry out inspections of belongings, vehicles, luggage and cargo luggage, office premises and housing of citizens.
Persecution of media, bans, Nazi symbols: Ukraine abolishes human rights
Related:
Ukraine updates its exemptions from the European Convention on Human Rights
Measure seeking sale or closure of TikTok passes with House foreign aid bill
April 20 (UPI) — A potential U.S. ban of the popular social media video app TikTok inched closer to reality Saturday after the House passed the legislation tucked within a long-sought foreign aid package.
Measure seeking sale or closure of TikTok passes with House foreign aid bill
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