Parler’s New Owners Swear This Time Will Be Different

Rhodes said the new version of Parler will include a native video player and messaging service, in a bid to differentiate the company from its former iterations and competing platforms like Truth Social and X. One key distinction it makes from X, Rhodes says, is a ban on pornography, according to Rhodes and Parler’s community … Read more

Dictators Used Sandvine Tech to Censor the Internet. The US Finally Did Something About It

When the Egyptian government shut down the internet in 2011 to give itself cover to crush a popular protest movement, it was Nora Younis who got the word out. Younis, then a journalist with daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, found a working internet connection at the InterContinental Cairo Semiramis Hotel that overlooked Tahrir Square, the heart … Read more

Mexican president slams YouTube for taking down his video that shared a journalist’s phone number

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president again lashed out at social media platform YouTube on Monday for taking down part of his daily news briefing where he revealed a reporter’s phone number. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the platform in Mexico “has been taken over by conservatives,” accused it of censorship and claimed YouTube “is … Read more

A Startup Allegedly ‘Hacked the World.’ Then Came the Censorship—and Now the Backlash

Even so, a little more than two weeks after publishing its investigation into Appin Technology, on December 5, Reuters complied with the Indian court’s injunction, removing its story. Soon, in a kind of domino effect of censorship, others began to take down their own reports about Appin Technology after receiving legal threats based on the … Read more

China’s critics and allies have 45 seconds each to speak in latest U.N. review of its human rights

GENEVA — China faces international scrutiny Tuesday over domestic polices in places like Hong Kong, Tibet and the western Xinjiang region as the global power receives its latest U.N.-backed review of its human rights record. An extraordinarily high number of more than 160 countries — some critics of Beijing, some allies — have registered to … Read more

Meta’s censorship of Palestine content is ‘systemic,’ Human Rights Watch finds

Meta has engaged in “systemic online censorship” and its “policies and practices have been silencing voices in support of Palestine” amid the war in Gaza, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. In the 51-page study published Wednesday, the human rights organization concluded the tech giant’s content moderation policies have “censored or otherwise … Read more

Poland’s new Cabinet moves to free state media from previous government’s political control

WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s new pro-European Union government has begun to wrestle control of the country’s state media and some other state agencies from the conservative party that consolidated its grip on them during eight years in power. The Cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which took office last week, said Wednesday it had fired … Read more

Detainees in El Salvador’s gang crackdown cite abuse during months in jail

MEXICO CITY — The day he was arrested, Luis was in a government office trying to get a document attesting to his clean criminal history so he could apply for a call center job. “What I wanted at that time was something better for my life,” said the 23-year-old, who was working as a baker. … Read more

Mexico cancels conference on 1960s and 1970s rights violations raising claims of censorship

Mexico’s Department of the Interior reportedly revoked funding on Friday for a conference on the government’s violent anti-insurgency policy from the 1960s to the 1980s, raising claims of censorship. The conference had been scheduled to begin in two days time. Organizers said they were forced to cancel the event, which would have focused on the … Read more

Censored art from around the world finds a second opportunity at a Barcelona museum for banned works

BARCELONA, Spain — A drawing of a nude Donald Trump. A punching bag sculpture shaped like a woman’s torso. A display of women’s party shoes standing proudly on prayer rugs. All are pieces of contemporary art that have provoked debate and, sometimes, violent reactions. These pieces and dozens more that were subjected to some sort … Read more