{"id":15797,"date":"2016-05-11T05:46:25","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T05:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/?p=15797"},"modified":"2016-11-28T16:09:23","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T16:09:23","slug":"internet-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/internet-censorship","title":{"rendered":"When Is Internet Censorship Considered Acceptable?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a6b39195b99473d6c9dd698db2668010\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:2px 0 2px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<center>\r\n\r\n<script type='text\/javascript'>\r\nfunction ShorterThan(widthMax) {\r\n                if (screen.width < widthMax) {return true;}  \r\n                else {return false}\r\n    }\r\nvar LimitWidth = 728\r\nvar MobileZoneID = 348996\r\nvar DesktopZoneID = 348995   \r\n<!--\/\/<![CDATA[\r\n   document.MAX_ct0 ='';\r\n   var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'?'https:\/\/cas.criteo.com\/delivery\/ajs.php?':'https:\/\/cas.criteo.com\/delivery\/ajs.php?');\r\n   var m3_r = Math.floor(Math.random()*99999999999);\r\n   document.write (\"<scr\"+\"ipt type='text\/javascript' src='\"+m3_u);\r\n   if (ShorterThan(LimitWidth)) {document.write (\"zoneid=\"+MobileZoneID);} else {document.write (\"zoneid=\"+DesktopZoneID);}\r\n   document.write(\"&nodis=1\");\r\n   document.write ('&cb=' + m3_r);\r\n   if (document.MAX_used != ',') document.write (\"&exclude=\" + document.MAX_used);\r\n   document.write (document.charset ? '&charset='+document.charset : (document.characterSet ? '&charset='+document.characterSet : ''));\r\n   document.write (\"&loc=\" + escape(window.location));\r\n   if (document.referrer) document.write (\"&referer=\" + escape(document.referrer));\r\n   if (document.context) document.write (\"&context=\" + escape(document.context));\r\n   if ((typeof(document.MAX_ct0) != 'undefined') && (document.MAX_ct0.substring(0,4) == 'http')) {\r\n       document.write (\"&ct0=\" + escape(document.MAX_ct0));\r\n   }\r\n   if (document.mmm_fo) document.write (\"&mmm_fo=1\");\r\n   document.write (\"'><\/scr\"+\"ipt>\");\r\n\/\/]]>--><\/script>\r\n<\/center>\n<\/div>\n<p>As an increasing number of people is gaining access to digital media, it has become harder for governments to censor the content that is distributed online. The Internet is not the safest place in the world, especially for children (predators, piracy, copyright violators, etc.). Yet, how far should governments go in protecting users from content the deem inappropriate?\u00a0At what point are free-speech rights violated?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Making content \u201chealthy for all\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ezekiel Mutua, head of the Kenya Film Classification Board,the organization that regulates all visual content in the nation, announced that he had requested Google to pull down a video they found inappropriate &#8211; a Kenyan remix of the Macklemore song <em>\u201cSame Love,\u201d<\/em> which advocates for gay rights. The remix and video was made by Kenyan hip hop group Art Attack. The video shows gay couples being intimate with each other, as well as footage of an LGBT parade and homophobic Kenyan newspaper headlines. Homosexuality is a criminal act in Kenya. The board\u2019s statement on the matter said that: \u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong> \u201call film and broadcast content is required by law to conform to national moral values\u201d and that they \u201cpledge to continue working together to bring down such inappropriate<\/strong> <strong>content.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mutua claimed that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThis is part of making sure that content is healthy for all<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d While Google refused to pull down the video, the company did agree to flag it as potentially inappropriate content. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15798\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15798\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15798\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/cb49ojnukaekydf.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/cb49ojnukaekydf.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/cb49ojnukaekydf-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/cb49ojnukaekydf-85x48.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15798\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/Cb49OjnUkAEkyDf.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Breaching the moral fabric of society<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Tanzania, the artist Snura Mushi caused quite a stir. Her music video to the song \u201cChura\u201d contained twerking. The Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports swiftly banned the video and the song from mainstream and social media. The video was banned for breaching the moral fabric of society and violating the country\u2019s traditions. Mushi\u2019s public shows are also temporarily banned. She has been ordered to remove the video from YouTube. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;She has also been instructed not to distribute or release her controversial and immoral video in other social media such as Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook and several others,&#8221; Zawadi Msalla, The ministry&#8217;s Head of Information and Communication, said.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15799\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15799\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-15799\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/chura.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"748\" height=\"393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/chura.jpg 556w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/chura-85x45.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15799\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-24RFOiILCYs\/Vsa2MDYTwYI\/AAAAAAAAM3I\/HT3Ifyh1-10\/w1200-h630-p-nu\/chura.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Restricting political dissent<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Expressing political views online is highly restricted in certain countries like Ethiopia. The government will often use the nation\u2019s Anti-Terror Proclamation to censor journalists and bloggers. In 2012, blogger Eskinder Nega &#8211; who often posted critical content &#8211; was accused of conspiring with a terrorist group to incite violence. He was sentenced to 18 years in jail. His conviction attracted international attention and several human rights groups called it unjust. Amnesty International has labelled him a prisoner of conscience. That year, Nega was awarded PEN America&#8217;s PEN\/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.PEN America\u2019s president said Nega was &#8220;<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that bravest and most admirable of writers, one who picked up his pen to write things that he knew would surely put him at grave risk.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8221; Nega is just one of many journalists who have been charged with the Anti-Terror Proclamation.\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/zone-9\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Zone 9 blogging collective were also arrested<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> under the proclamation. They too received a prestigious international award: the 2015 International Press Freedom Award. <\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15800\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15800\" style=\"width: 712px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-15800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/cvycfcguaaagmdh.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"712\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/cvycfcguaaagmdh.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/cvycfcguaaagmdh-85x48.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 712px) 100vw, 712px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15800\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CVyCfcgUAAAGmdH.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Limiting access to what cannot be censored<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Free services, including social media like Facebook and Twitter as well as over-the-top services like Skype and Whatsapp, allow users to connect with people all over the world through a third party. Social media is much harder for governments to censor and unrestricted content often flows freely. Instead, governments attempt to restrict access to them. Sometimes it is temporary, like when Uganda shut down all social media platforms during the presidential elections. President Museveni said this was done to prevent the spread of false results, but the opposition believed it was done to prevent the spread of the true results. Nigeria<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/social-media-banning\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has a proposed bill that can be used to censor social media, <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">with violators potentially facing jail and\/or a big fine. Regarding over-the-top services, Ethiopia has passed a law restricting apps like Skype in order to protect domestic \u00a0telecommunications providers. However, critics of the government believe this is just another form of censorship.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15801\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15801\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15801\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/64147319_04_sa_gadgets_afp.jpg\" alt=\"source\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/64147319_04_sa_gadgets_afp.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/64147319_04_sa_gadgets_afp-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/05\/64147319_04_sa_gadgets_afp-85x48.jpg 85w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15801\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-p6IjJZddA-4\/VgCg3RZkz7I\/AAAAAAAAB0Y\/doyq3MUdPDs\/s1600\/_64147319_04_sa_gadgets_afp.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.afrizap.com\/en\/social-media-banning\">SEE ALSO:\u00a0What\u2019s Behind Banning Social Media In Some African Countries ?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As an increasing number of people is gaining access to digital media, it has become<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":15801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,108],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>When Is Internet Censorship Considered 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