BYOD #14: Influencers to be treated as media outlets in Egypt
This week’s round-up of digital security news and investigative journalism in Africa.
ANCIR’s weekly post offering interesting — or amusing — digital security news from around the world, and tips for newsrooms, journalists and sources on the latest security measures.
Egypt’s new bill to block popular social media accounts
Egypt’s parliament has passed a bill that targets popular social media accounts. The authorities have supported the bill as a move to prevent “fake news”, which they claim is published by these accounts. According to News24, the legislation labels social media accounts with 5000 or more followers as media outlets and should be supervised as such. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt is yet to ratify the bill, but human rights activists have criticised this move inspired by his government.
SA’s MTN announces a cap on free Twitter on its network
Mobile telecommunication company MTN has put a cap on the use of free Twitter for all its customers. The company says this is a move to combat attacks on the network by hackers who have discovered a loophole in the system. Speaking with Business Insider, MTN’s general manager of network planning Zoltan Miklos says that although the systems were never compromised, the free Twitter IP is being hacked to stream IP addresses that are not free, which may be a sign of a planned sophisticated attack.
Media curb raises fears in DRC
A move by the Democratic Republic of Congo to clamp down on online media continues to raise alarm ahead of the December elections. According to The Nation, watchdogs say this a move to breach media freedom and stifle political debate. Last month, the ministry of communications in the DRC issued a decree giving online media outlets a month to comply with the new regulations set by the government or face potential punishment.
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device/Data) refers to owning your data and digital property, and keeping it secure. This newsletter is brought to you with support from Project Shield and Code For Africa.
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The African Network of Centers for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR) is an association of the continent’s best investigative newsrooms, ranging from large traditional media to small specialist units.
ANCIR works to strengthen African investigative journalism by improving the techniques, expertise, the tools used in muckraking newsrooms. This includes providing member newsrooms with the world’s best encryption and semantic analysis technologies, to forensic research support (through the Investigative Dashboard), legal services, and seed grants for cross-border collaboration.
ANCIR is incubated by and receives technical support from Code for Africa.
