A protester displays a tear gas canister during a clash with riot police in Cairo on January 28, 2011
Farah Najar
May 4, 2022
Twitter appears to be privatizing, raising fears among dissidents in the Middle East and North Africa that a safe space to speak freely in all forms of state censorship is about to disappear.
Under the expected ownership of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, popular social media apps are expected to change.
But activists and experts say turning Twitter into an unregulated private business means that some of these changes are bound to limit users' security and privacy, effectively keeping them silent.
In addition to open sourceing the algorithm and solving the problem of controversial bots, last week with Twitter Inc. The billionaire entrepreneur, who reached the deal on the acquisition, also promised to "authenticate everyone."
Gillian York, director of international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told Al Jazeera, "No matter how you spin it, it will exclude certain users of the platform." ”
Elon Musk's interactive timeline of the acquisition of Twitter
Many have questioned how the self-described "free speech absolutist" plans to verify the identity of human users and whether this will force anonymous users to reveal their true identities.
Syrian-American democracy activist Karim Rifai told Al Jazeera that if "authenticating everyone" includes de-anonymization, it "will certainly have a profound negative impact on the global democracy movement."
Karim Rifai said, "De-anonymization makes it dangerous or impossible for opposition activists living under dictatorships to safely criticize their oppressors." ”
What does "authenticate everyone" mean?
Authenticating human users is a process that can be done in a number of ways.
Digital rights advocate and data scientist Val Aravani explained that it can range from "ticking the captcha box ... All the way to uploading official documents and personal photos".
Regardless of how, both York and Aravani agree that it's "absolutely" worth paying attention to.
While authentication is considered a "solution" to the bots and spam that thrives on Twitter, Aravani believes these "can't be solved by authentication itself."
Aravani said hitting bots in a linear fashion could lead to unintended consequences that would be detrimental to long-term goals, adding that Twitter users who anonymously tweeted against authoritarian governments would be the first to be affected if they ended up revealing their identities.
York agreed, saying, "A user who anonymously tweeted against the authoritarian regime ... They have to weigh their personal safety and the importance of their work – a choice they shouldn't make. ”
A Cairo Twitter user, alias Big Pharaoh, told Al Jazeera, "As Musk said, I'd like to see the bot disappear, but I'll still be unhappy if anonymous accounts are no longer allowed." ”
The big pharaohs, who have been bloggering anonymously since 2004, are known for their tough stance on the Egyptian government, and they have nearly 75,000 Twitter followers.
They say the anonymity stems from "security concerns" and because their blog — which is also the Great Pharaoh — has become synonymous with their pen names.
Suppress dissent
In the early days, platforms such as Twitter and Facebook provided activists with the means to organize and expand their needs, essentially becoming a key tool in launching the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.
In the years leading up to the revolution, opposition to blogging anonymously since the early 2000s found a wider audience on Twitter, as the platform's popularity soared after 2008.
In a political climate that does not allow independent media to flourish, local activists like the Great Pharaoh are finally able to offer another perspective that resonates with millions of people.
The same is true of Mahmoud Salem, an Egyptian cybersecurity analyst who blogged "Rantings of a Sandmonkey," and in 2005 Salem began blogging anonymously to advance debates about social and political issues in the country and the region.
He later turned to Twitter and now shares his thoughts with more than 176,000 followers.
Salem said it was "very important" to be able to tweet anonymously prior to the Egyptian uprising, especially when it came to "not confusing information with messengers."
Tweeting anonymously, he explains, means you're being stripped of any labels or affiliations.
On January 28, 2011, during clashes in Cairo, a protester holding an Egyptian flag stood in front of a water cannon
Salem eventually revealed his identity in February 2011 after he claimed he was nearly killed by police, who briefly detained him for participating in protests in downtown Cairo.
According to Salem, if Twitter decides to force users to give up their personal information under Musk's leadership, it will be the "end of online anonymous activism," suggesting that users may start moving elsewhere, with encrypted messaging app Telegram being the "most obvious option."
Salem believes it could also be "the end of fake accounts, and the end of Twitter user growth," raising doubts about whether new features will be implemented.
The formerly anonymous activist, who now blogs "occasionally" under his real name but no longer lives in Egypt, said it "makes sense to leave" after both his friends and business associates were "eventually arrested or exiled."
In recent years, Egypt has carried out an unprecedented crackdown on the media, imprisoning dozens of foreign journalists and occasionally expelling them.
In 2019, Egypt introduced stricter restrictions that allowed the state to block websites and social media accounts under the guise of "fake news" or incitement.
Just last week, in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad's government violently suppressed a peaceful uprising that began in 2011, amending an existing cybercrime law that imprisons Syrians who criticize the regime for up to 15 years.
"Protect user privacy"
Although Twitter has been a haven for hate speech and disinformation for years, anonymous users are still able to speak freely without fear of immediate retaliation.
To better protect and support anonymous users, Pharaoh said Twitter should continue to "protect users' privacy."
Salem agrees, adding, "If there is such a process, then there needs to be a mechanism to prevent Twitter from sharing said information." ”
Otherwise, Twitter could also help the regime extend its repressive practices into the digital space.
Aravani warned that knowing the true identities of activists could "enhance the massive surveillance campaign carried out by the government with the support of new Twitter."
York said that while Twitter has historically given user data to foreign governments in accordance with legal requirements, it has done it with great caution, sometimes "fighting back when they deem such requests unfair."
So far, however, Musk has not said he knows anything about the issue.
Musk said in a tweet posted Tuesday, "By 'free speech,' I only mean content that complies with the law." ”
He added, "I'm against censorship that goes far beyond the law, and if people want less freedom of speech, they'll ask the government to change the law for that." ”
Aravani said the statement alarmed activists — who crossed the boundaries of free speech set by their respective governments and guarded by Musk — and said that "their data can be easily shared with the government to enforce the law."
Rather than putting the app in the hands of a single private owner with enormous influence, he suggests discussing ways of "collective governance, co-ownership, and data ownership."
Source : Al Jazeera Chinese