With the coronavirus pandemic disrupting traditional campaigning, candidates and supporters are increasingly turning to social media to reach voters, prompting concerns about online hate speech and disinformation.
A simmering confrontation between Moscow and foreign tech firms has escalated in light of the crisis in Ukraine, and maths exercises Russia has blocked access to Meta Platforms Inc’s flagship social media, Facebook and Instagram.
The media watchdog went on: “We take seriously the importance, in our democratic society, of a broadcaster’s right to freedom of expression and the audience’s right to receive information and ideas without undue interference.
March 19 (Reuters) – The Philippines´ presidential candidates debating on Saturday agreed on at least one thing and that was the need to hold social media firms liable for the spread of disinformation as the country prepares for elections on May 9.
They remain online, with Twitter owner Elon Musk saying there was little point in banning information which has already been widely circulated, and which will be easily-found elsewhere even if his moderators remove it.
Although Reform won nearly twice as many votes as the March election´s runner-up, the far-right populist EKRE party, Kallas needed junior partners to form a Cabinet that can govern with a comfortable majority for the next four years.
They are dated ranging from February 23 to March 1, and provide what appears to be details on the progress of weapons and equipment going into Ukraine with more precise timelines and amounts than the U.S.
Intelligence agencies are believed to have comprehensively infiltrated Russia’s military and its leading spy agencies, offering considerable knowledge of upcoming maneuvers, as well as insights into how badly Putin’s war is going.
The regulator, Roskomnadzor, said adverts on the platform were calling for the communications systems of Russia and Belarus’ railway networks to be suspended and that their dissemination was evidence of the U.S.
The United States and European Union imposed sanctions on Malofeev in 2014 over accusations that he funded pro-Moscow separatists fighting in Ukraine, which he denies. Russia considers such Western sanctions illegal.
“Thank God Google exists in India, China, Brazil and other countries. We will collect the money there until the court decision is fully realised.” ($1 = 95.2500 roubles) (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
The party councils of Kallas´ pro-business Reform Party, which overwhelmingly won with 31.2% of the vote, the centrist Estonia 200 party and the Social Democratic Party said they would form the coalition after agreeing on government programs for the nex four years .
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday wrote a fierce criticism of foreign social media firms, mentioning by name both Meta and YouTube, but he hinted that the door leading to their possible return to the Russian market would be left ajar.
Allied nations, such as South Korea, have also reportedly been the subject of spying by the Pentagon, raising questions as to the diplomatic impact the leak could have at a time of deteriorating global ties.
Ofcom said the decision to suspend the licence came amid ongoing investigations into RT’s news and current affairs coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson also having previously called for an Ofcom review.
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) – Estonia´s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said Saturday that her center-right Reform Party has clinched a deal with two other parties to form a coalition government, five weeks after a general election in the Baltic country.
March 17 (Reuters) – The television channel of a sanctioned Russian businessman on Thursday said Alphabet Inc’s Google had lost a court appeal against a 2021 ruling that the company pay a compounding fine for blocking access to the channel’s YouTube account.
That comes despite the US spending $200 billion on advanced military hardware and spying equipment for Ukraine, with the cash credited for helping the country successfully hold-off Russian advances far longer than anyone thought necessary.
Google was disputing a daily 100,000 rouble ($1,050) fine it was ordered to pay in April 2021 after failing to unblock Tsargrad TV’s YouTube account, a Christian Orthodox channel owned by businessman Konstantin Malofeev.
Anton Gorelkin, a member of Russia’s State Duma committee on information and communications, pointed Russians to services that would help them move videos from YouTube to the domestic equivalent, RuTube.
“Currently, writs of execution have been issued, enforcement orders have been initiated and funds sufficient to fulfil the court acts have been seized from Google’s accounts,” Tsargrad said in a statement.
“The ‘guardians’ of free speech have in all seriousness allowed users of their social media to wish death upon the Russian military,” Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012 and is now deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on the messaging app Telegram.