Internet freedom

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an opposition group headquartered overseas, said on Wednesday it has received reports of sexual assault against teenage protesters who were taken prisoner during the regime’s brutal crackdown on demonstrations this month.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday claimed the massive nationwide uprising against the regime he serves was an “Israeli plot” carried out by “ISIS-style terrorist operations,” and the regime has defeated these “terrorists” after three days of pitched battle.

The Iranian opposition group known as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran/Mojahedin-e-Khalq (PMOI/MEK) claimed on Tuesday that the death toll from the nationwide uprising against the Iranian regime has surpassed 3,000, with casualties reported from 195 cities. President Donald Trump urged the “patriots” of Iran to stay strong, and promised “help is on its way.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed on Monday that the uprising against his brutal regime is “now under total control” after hundreds, or even thousands, of civilians were killed by security forces.

Police reportedly opened fire on demonstrators in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, after protests against a government ban on most social media platforms swelled to enormous size on Monday. The official casualty count included 19 dead and 150 injured as of Monday afternoon.

The government of Qatar has blocked access to the popular gaming platform Roblox after a storm of complaints on social media about the safety of children playing the games. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law that criminalizes searches for “extremist” content on the internet, with fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($64) for each violation.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced over $10 billion in deals with Vietnam on Monday, including an agreement for Vietnam to buy 20 French-made Airbus planes.

In the wake of Conor McGregor announcing his intention to run for president, Irish prosecutors are reportedly considering charging the UFC legend over allegedly “inciting hatred” amid the 2023 Dublin riots.

The Turkish government on Thursday announced 37 people were arrested for “provocative” social media posts related to Wednesday’s arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and chief political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Indonesian Communications Minister Metuya Hafid said on Tuesday that her country will impose a minimum age for social media users, similar to what Australia has done. 

Internet watchdogs generally agreed that Internet freedom declined once again in 2024 – the fourteenth loss in a row, according to Freedom House.

Australian politicians describe their ban on children under 16 using social media as “world-leading,” but in truth, the rest of the world is not far behind them. An international consensus against permitting children on social media gained momentum in 2024, despite deep reservations from Internet freedom advocates.

Australia is rushing to get a new law banning children under 16 from using most social media platforms through parliament.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that his government will implement a “world-leading” ban on social media for children under the age of 16.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) issued a statement on Thursday that said it would conduct a massive campaign over the next two months to erase all content deemed “illegal and harmful” by Chinese Communist Party censors.

Young people in Shanghai, China, took to the streets in Halloween costumes over the weekend despite rainy weather and a grumpy ban on holiday decorations, costumes, and anything with “horror or violence-related elements.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday his left-wing government is preparing to impose a minimum age limit, probably between 14 and 16, for children to use social media.

The social media platform X (formerly Twitter) began publishing the “Alexandre Files” files over the weekend in response to Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who recently ordered the complete suspension of the platform in Brazil.

A Hong Kong court approved the Communist-controlled government’s effort to ban “Glory to Hong Kong,” the anthem of the 2019 protests.

The 2023 edition of the State Department’s annual human rights report blasts China for repression, torture, and genocide.

Brazilian “anti-fake news crusader” Alexandre de Moraes has opened an inquiry into Elon Musk and Twitter for defying censorship orders.

The “Queer.af” instance of the open-source social media platform Mastodon disappeared on Monday, along with many other domains and websites, because the Taliban regime abruptly decided to take control of Afghanistan’s domain servers.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Wednesday that India is the world leader in shutting down Internet access, coming in ahead of heavyweight access-blockers like Iran, Libya, and Sudan with 84 regional shutdowns in 2022.

French President Emmanuel Macron demanded that Elon Musk abides by European Union restrictions on speech on Twitter in a meeting on Friday.

Andrew Tate has seen his account reinstated on Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover of the Silicon Valley tech giant.

Facebook, which has rebranded itself “Meta,” published a “compliance report” on Tuesday that said 24.6 million pieces of content were censored in India in March. Another 2.7 million pieces of content were deleted on the Instagram platform.

The Chinese Communist government sternly warned Olympic athletes not to engage in any unauthorized political speech but Chinese state media roundly applauded an American athlete for gushing over the “incredible” accommodations she found in Beijing.

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping on Tuesday warned artists to create only “healthy” art that extols the virtues of “socialism with Chinese characteristics,” or else “the people will not accept it” – a not-very-veiled warning that Xi’s totalitarian government will punish artists who challenge the Chinese Communist ideology.

Nigerian Minister of State for Labor and Employment Festus Keyamo said on Monday that Twitter has agreed to all of the conditions for reinstatement laid out when President Muhammadu Buhari banned the social media platform in June.

Australia’s High Court ruled on Wednesday that media companies are liable for defamatory comments posted to their Facebook pages by readers, a decision that will further complicate the worldwide debate about whether social media platforms should have the same legal obligations as publishers.

Brendan Carr said the U.S. can provide Internet access to Cuba and circumvent the digital blockade imposed on the one-party island state.

The government of Hong Kong on Wednesday objected to U.S. media reports that several large tech companies are threatening to pull out of Hong Kong over new laws that would criminalize “doxxing,” the malicious exposure of private data, and hold platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google liable for allowing the activity.

London-based Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Nathan Law said on Thursday that Hong Kong police asked his website hosting company, Wix.com of Tel Aviv, to shut down his 2021 Hong Kong Charter website because it allegedly violated China’s tyrannical national security law and Wix complied with the request.

Facebook revealed Thursday that it blocked all posts containing the hashtag #ResignModi in India for several hours Wednesday.

An “emergency ordinance” against “wholly or partly false” news content related to the coronavirus pandemic went into effect in Malaysia on Friday, prompting criticism from opposition politicians and international free speech activists. Violators of the ordinance face heavy fines and up to six years in prison.