Major Internet Censorship Incidents in January 2021
2020 is finally behind us. As we welcome the new year, we at Tachyon continue to work towards liberating the Internet, as it originally meant to.
And we have ample reason to fight on. The month of January itself has seen a spate of Internet censorship incidents all over the globe. If this is anything to judge how the rest of the year is going to be like, we have a fight on our hands.
In the following sections of the article, we’ll bring to light the major incidents of Internet censorship that have made waves in the month of January.
Authorities in Tajikistan Disrupt Web-based Services
Popular teleconferencing software Zoom, which has become an essential tool for remote business meetings, has ‘stopped functioning’ in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan. Experts think that this may be linked to recently adopted provisions on taxing software companies providing services to clients inside Tajikistan. Users have been using VPN proxy services to bypass the Zoom block.
Prior to this, Gmail, Instagram and Facebook had become unavailable for two days. Even now, access to Gmail is only guaranteed through a VPN. The State Telecommunications Service, have denied that they are behind the blocking of any social networking sites, but citizens believe otherwise.
Last year, authorities in Tajikistan had imposed a so-called ‘Google Tax’ to compel companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc. to pay taxes inside Tajikistan. Under this legislation, the companies are now required to register with Tajik tax authorities and pay 18% sales tax on any services provided in the country. Failure to adhere to the diktat would possibly result in disruption of services.
Since it’s extremely unlikely that such software giants would even bother to register with Tajik tax authorities, it remains to be seen if the government goes all out and imposes a blanket ban on these websites. In case such an event occurs, Internet users in Tajikistan might find themselves resorting to more and more VPN apps.
Indian Government Censors Twitter Accounts of Dissenters
For the past few months, farmers in India had been protesting against certain Farm Laws that the government has been planning to impose, inspite of widespread concerns that such laws would be harmful for them.
Farmers had been assembling near the Indian capital of New Delhi over the past few days, culminating in a coordinated protest on the streets of the capital city on 26th January, the day when India celebrates Republic Day (when the Indian Constitution came into effect).
Unfortunately, a faction of the protestors turned unruly, resulting in police action on sections of the farmers. This resulted in the death of one demonstrator and injuries to hundreds. The protestors and the section of the population supporting the farmers cried out that the police had resorted to excesses to curb what was largely a peaceful demonstration.
Following these incidents, attempts by the Indian media to report on the events faced a crackdown allegedly at the behest of Indian authorities. More than 250 Indian accounts and tweets that were associated with the protests were censored, for more than 12 hours. The suspensions were the result of a legal demand to Twitter by the Indian government.
Accounts suspended included investigative platforms and activists who have often been critical of the Government’s actions in the past. There was no public explanation or detail of the legal demand from the government. Twitter claimed that the suspensions of accounts or content was routine, but the choice of accounts has raised suspicion.
What’s concerning is that this seems to be a ploy repeatedly used in the recent past. With anti-establishment protests spreading across India, the last year has seen a spate of legal demands sent to Twitter by the Indian government requesting content takedowns.
Hong Kong Blocks Pro-Democracy Website
For the first time, a Hong Kong ISP (Internet Service Provider) has blocked a pro-democracy website under a new security law. Hong Kong Broadband Network, one of the city’s main ISPs, said that it had disabled access to the website HK Chronicles after a request from authorities issued under the national security law.
HK Chronicles has often been targeted by authorities for publishing the personal details of pro-government figures and police and their families (a process known as “doxing”), and for providing information on Hong Kong’s 2019 anti-government protests.
This has raised concerns that the financial hub is implementing limits on Internet freedom similar to those in Mainland China. Mainland China restricts access to most of the Internet, and also censors social media in real time. Hong Kong, however, has enjoyed free Internet access till now, which is essential for global businesses using the territory as a regional hub.
Last year’s protests had erupted in response to an extradition law that would have allowed criminal suspects to be transferred to Mainland China. Soon after, the protests grew to include concerns over Beijing’s increasing influence in the city, and threats to freedoms guaranteed to Hong Kong on its handover from the UK to China in 1997.
It is feared that any attempt to enforce a ‘Great Firewall of China’ type of blockade inside Hong Kong would not only take away the Internet liberties enjoyed by the residents, but it will also erode the status of the region as a hub of trade and finance.
Facebook Censors Employees’ Discussion Forum
In a surprising turn of events where the victim becomes the aggressor, Facebook reportedly attempted to prevent employees from discussing whether the company should ban US President Donald Trump from the platform after he allegedly incited protests at the US Capitol.
Facebook apparently blocked employees from commenting on posts after they began discussing this on internal messaging boards. Administrators, without explanation, blocked comments on at least three threads discussing possibly kicking Trump off the platform.
Facebook has long been considered to be a champion of free speech, and the company has historically allowed its employees to openly discuss contentious political topics in its internal messaging boards. However, over the past few years, Facebook has faced increasing criticism both internally and externally for failing to crack down on disinformation and hate speech on its platform.
It seems like Facebook has recently tightened its moderation over internal messaging boards, which employees use to discuss various political and social topics. While this may seem like the company’s internal matter for now, any change in policy of an Internet behemoth such as Facebook is bound to have a ripple effect through the global Internet realm.
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