Hi, I’m Roary, the official mascot of UPROAR, a @small_media project. I help human rights defenders unleash their superpowers at the United Nations. In Part 1 of this two-part series we check in with our advocates to find out how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting digital rights in:
- Lebanon (SMEX)
- Liberia (Center for Media Studies and Peace Building)
- Malawi (Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation)
- Turkey (Media Legal Studies Association)
Rumours and repercussions
Lockdowns have made us more dependent on the internet than ever, for work, for information, and for keeping in touch. But since the start of the pandemic there has been an increase in violations of freedom of expression online, with many voices silenced for posting and reporting about Covid-19 online.
🇱🇷🇱🇷 Liberia 🇱🇷🇱🇷
At a press conference on April 29, Cllr. Sayma Syrenius Cephus, the Solicitor General of Liberia, threatened the media, inferring that licenses of social media platforms, electronic and print media could be revoked to stop the spread of “misinformation and disinformation”.
The Ministry of Information further announced that all media passes issued to journalists during the ongoing State of Emergency would be deemed invalid as of Saturday, May 2.
🇹🇷🇹🇷 Turkey 🇹🇷🇹🇷
On April 7, 2020 Bianet reported a statement issued by the Turkish Ministry of Interior that announced the Department for Fighting Against Cyber Crimes had investigated 3,576 social media accounts during the previous 21 days for suspected “unfounded and provocative messages about coronavirus”.
The Ministry of Interior announced that 616 suspects had been identified and 229 of them were taken into custody. The Ministry argued the social media posts were made by the “Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure (FETÖ/PDY), Kurdistan Workers Party/Kurdish Communities Union (PKK/KCK) and marginal groups," and that aimed “to incite the public to fear, panic and worry on social media and targeting authorized/responsible persons and institutions before the public.”
🇲🇼🇲🇼 Malawi 🇲🇼🇲🇼
On April 26, 2020, the Malawian Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) blocked estranged Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima’s broadcast to the nation entitled “Remarks by the Right Honourable State Vice-President of the Republic of Malawi on the National Situation and Response to Covid-19”.
Chilima’s address criticised President Mutharika’s response to COVID-19 and dared him to demonstrate leadership in the fight against coronavirus by bringing on board all stakeholders to be part of an inclusive national response.
The interruption affected not only radio and television, but also online broadcasts, denying millions of listeners and viewers online and offline the opportunity to follow the Vice President’s address, which had not been approved by the President.
The internet to the rescue… but where is my data stored?!
Many countries have explored or adopted the use of contract tracing apps that process and store sensitive health information in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
The World Health Organization and national and regional health ministries and organisations have all been using the internet to inform and instruct citizens on approved and appropriate precautions to take during the pandemic. So, let’s hear from our UPRoar advocates what’s happening on the ground where they are.
🇱🇷🇱🇷 Liberia 🇱🇷🇱🇷
The website of the National Public Health Institute provides daily updates on active, suspected, and treated cases and deaths from COVID-19.
However, the Institute is relying on people to come forward with suspected cases rather than proactively testing and verifying cases.
🇱🇧🇱🇧 Lebanon 🇱🇧🇱🇧
Lebanon has launched a set of digital tools to help diagnose and monitor the spread of the outbreak. These tools are launched by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) but developed by third party companies.
The data sharing agreement between the MoPH and the app developers has not been clarified and the apps require excessive user permissions, which, given Lebanon’s weak legal framework for data protection, is concerning.
Permissions required for the apps include requests to access the camera, microphone and location, and a storage access request. Some of these are necessary for the functioning of the apps (e.g. to facilitate uploading a document), but, according to SMEX, “the activation of all these permissions will allow the applications to collect personal information about the user and opens the door for attackers to obtain this data or leverage the permissions to access users’ devices”.
🇹🇷🇹🇷 Turkey 🇹🇷🇹🇷
Turkey’s Ministry of Health launched the Hayat Eve Sığar (“life fits into home”) mobile application in late April.
Anyone who has tested positive for Covid-19 is required to use the app, which was designed by three telecommunication operators along with Turkey’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority.
Patients are tracked via the app and warned with instant notifications if they do not isolate themselves. The app also assesses an individual’s ‘risk level’ based on their location data, and notifies them if they have travelled to an area later shown to have had a spike in cases. The state collects location data of app users and shares data of the users come into contact with.
UPRoar advocate Barış Altıntaş, the director of the Media and Law Studies Association, Turkey, says:
“The use of surveillance technologies even before the pandemic by the Turkish state through its e-state implementations has never been debated in terms of user privacy and state surveillance. One of our biggest concerns is now that the government will have and additional way to track more data on citizens, even after the pandemic has subsided.”
🇲🇼🇲🇼 Malawi 🇲🇼🇲🇼
The Malawian authorities are also using mobile phones to track and collect data. Malawi rolled out mandatory SIM registration in 2018, which means the authorities can track anyone’s location, simply by sending a message to or calling their number.
People arriving from abroad, in particular from countries with a higher rate of COVID-19 transmission, are required to self-isolate and to provide their contact details, including address and phone number. Malawi does not have a data protection law.
What do we want? Fast internet! When do we want it? NOW!
The need for universal and affordable internet access has never been as clear-cut as it is right now. We asked our advocates if they’d experienced any challenges accessing the internet since the pandemic started.
🇹🇷🇹🇷 Turkey 🇹🇷🇹🇷
Turkish citizens are accustomed to internet slowdowns and shutdowns, but poor connectivity has been a feature of life in lockdown for the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) team and it is especially noticeable when they are having online team meetings.
At the beginning of lockdown, MLSA launched a series of online TV programs. They heard complaints from many viewers experiencing very slow internet connections.
According to Digital 2020 April Global Statshot Report (screenshot above), Turkey experienced a 17% drop in the average download speed of fixed internet connections from February to March 2020.
🇲🇼🇲🇼 Malawi 🇲🇼🇲🇼
Our advocates working remotely in Malawi are often relying on mobile hotspots for internet, as their fixed broadband connections are very slow.
Despite having an internet penetration rate of only 9%, the Malawian government exclusively promoted e-learning following school closures in April due to the pandemic. To support children to access these resources, telecommunication companies Airtel and TNM agreed to provide free internet for secondary school students to be able to access lessons.
Fighters keep fighting
Across the globe, people are coming together (while physical distancing) to solve challenges caused by the pandemic. Human rights activists are no exception. Let’s wrap up by hearing what our extraordinary advocates have been doing to keep up the good fight.
🇱🇷🇱🇷 Liberia 🇱🇷🇱🇷
In Liberia, The Center for Media Studies and Peace-building (CMSP) sees the need to respond to misinformation on social media around Covid-19 control measures. They intend to use fact-checking tools and processes to track and verify Covid-19 information posted online.
🇹🇷🇹🇷 Turkey 🇹🇷🇹🇷
The FreeWebTurkey project, run by The Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) in Istanbul, is receiving more attention as the government increases its censorship of news and information relating to COVID-19.
In mid-April, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) prepared a draft law to combat against the economic effects of COVID-19.
The draft law included a clause on social media supervision that would require foreign social media companies with more than 1 million users, like Facebook and Twitter, to appoint a representative in the country to address concerns raised by authorities over content on their platforms. Companies that refused to comply with the proposed measure could have faced having their bandwidth cut by up to 95% after 60 days if they did not comply with a court order.
The clause has since been withdrawn, but its inclusion in the first place shows the readiness of the Turkish government to seize control of the social media narrative.
🇱🇧🇱🇧 Lebanon 🇱🇧🇱🇧
SMEX in Lebanon marched straight to the frontline and began printing 3-D face shields and tracking all the state-sponsored applications that are collecting information related to COVID-19 across the region.
In Part 2 we’ll hear from our advocates in Kenya, Jordan, The Gambia and Rwanda. And if you’d like to find out more about UPRoar, you can follow us on Twitter or, better yet, check out our new suite of digital advocacy tools.
