Global review of censorship:

Palestinians’ struggle to secure their digital rights is crucial in the face of mainstream media spin
and collaboration of social media platforms with Israel to stifle their voices. Since attacks on
residents and activists by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied East Jerusalem
neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah began, countless Palestinians have slammed social media
companies for shutting down their personal accounts and censoring content they shared. Social
media users from the ground and around the world have disseminated images and video content
on the attacks, using the hashtag #SaveSheikhJarrah in both English and Arabic.

In Hungary, the government’s Media Authority has the power to collect detailed information
about journalists as well as advertising and editorial content. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s
regime uses fines, taxes, and licensing to pressure critical media, and steers state advertising to
friendly outlets. A comprehensive report by several global press freedom organizations
concluded: “Hungary’s independent media today faces creeping strangulation.”

In Pakistan, the state regulatory authority suspended the license of Geo TV, the most popular
channel in the country, after a defamation claim against it was made by the intelligence services
following a shooting of one of the station’s best-known journalists. The channel was off the air
for 15 days starting in June 2014. Pakistani journalists say that self-censorship and bribery are
rife.

For almost five years, Talat Hussain, a well-known Pakistani journalist, hosted a popular current
affairs talk show on Geo TV, openly discussing the political issues of the day. But last year all
that changed. Forced to comply with a “total blackout” of news that criticised the military or the
government of the new Prime Minister, Imran Khan, Hussain found himself unable to speak
freely. “My programmes were being repeatedly censored,” said Hussain. “I was told that any
suggestion that the 2018 elections were rigged or that the army was part of the running of the
government by Imran Khan was unacceptable.”While Pakistan has a turbulent relationship with
media freedom, under Imran Khan, elected as prime minister last year with strong backing from
the military, censorship is felt heavier than ever before.

In Turkey, a recent amendment to the internet law gave the Telecommunications Directorate the
authority to close any website or content “to protect national security and public order, as well as
to prevent a crime.” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been criticized for jailing dozens of
journalists and for using tax investigations and huge fines in retaliation for critical. More
recently, the government blocked Twitter and other social media allegedly in response to a
corruption scandal that implicated Erdogan and other senior officials.
Conclusion:

The results are in line with the ‘balance of harms principle’. To a large extent media are the
custodians of freedom of expression in modern societies. Citizens’ willingness to accept
limitations on freedom of expression for certain purposes may therefore be taken, at least in part,
as an expression of criticism of media performance. This critique focuses primarily on problems
relating to media’s lack of respect for individuals’ personal privacy. A second principal
conclusion is that when freedom of expression is weighed against the need to protect vulnerable
groups in society – children and young people, and individuals who are the targets of racism and
violation (hate speech and harassment) – at least half of the population is willing to extend such
protection by restricting freedom of expression.