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Facebook and Twitter identify and shut down multiple accounts linked to Russian and Iranian disinformation campaigns aimed at users in several countries including the United States. Incarcerated individuals across the United States stage multi-day protests. At a rally in West Virginia, Trump tells supporters he’d “rather have fake news than have anybody… stopped and censored” and claimed his administration is “standing up to social media censorship.” 2017 PEN/ Barbey Freedom to Write Award honoree Oleg Sentsov enters 100th day of hunger strike. -Anoosh Gasparian, External Relations Manager

 

The most pressing threats and notable goings-on in free expression today

U.S.

Facebook Identifies New Influence Operations Spanning Globe
Facebook said that it identified multiple new influence campaigns that were aimed at misleading people around the world, with the company finding and removing 652 fake accounts, pages, and groups that were trying to sow misinformation.
NEW YORK TIMES

U.S. Incarcerated Individuals Stage Nationwide Prison Labor Strike Over ‘Modern Slavery’
America’s vast army of incarcerated men and women—at 2.3m of them they form by far the largest imprisoned population in the world—will brace itself for what has the potential to be the largest prison strike in U.S. history.
GUARDIAN

Trump: ‘I Would Rather have Fake News’ than Censorship
During a rally in Charleston, Trump told the crowd that his administration is “standing up to social media censorship.” He warned against embracing censorship of opposing viewpoints, because “it can turn around, it can be them next.”
HILL

Ukrainian Filmmaker Sentsov Enters Day 100 of Hunger Strike
Western governments and activists stepped up pressure on Russia to free jailed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov as he reached day 100 of a hunger strike. “Oleg is hanging in there… He is not broken,” said Sentsov’s cousin Natalia Kaplan.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Kelly Marie Tran: I Won’t Be Marginalized by Online Harassment
“It wasn’t their words, it’s that I started to believe them… Their words reinforced a narrative I had heard my whole life: that I was ‘other’, that I didn’t belong, that I wasn’t good enough, simply because I wasn’t like them.”
NEW YORK TIMES

 
Global

Nepal Urged to Repeal New Law Over Press Freedom Concerns
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Nepal’s government to repeal or amend a new criminal code adopted, which makes sharing confidential information an offence, in order to remove provisions that threaten press freedom.
AL JAZEERA

Are Journalists Increasingly Under Threat in Germany?
During a far-right PEGIDA demonstration, a ZDF camera crew was reportedly insulted by demonstrators and then held by police to determine their identities. The event has been labelled as a “clear restriction of freedom to report”.
DEUTSCHE WELLE

Anger as Zambia Announces Tax On Internet Calls
Zambia will tax phone calls made over the internet to protect traditional telecoms companies, a move activists warned would stifle freedom of expression. “This tariff does not promote digital inclusion, or net neutrality. It is an assault on innovation.”
DAILY NATION

Ugandan Army Commander Orders Arrest of Soldiers Who Beat Journalists
The Ugandan Chief of Defence Forces, has ordered the arrest and punishment of soldiers who brutalised and harassed journalists covering a joint security operation against protestors who were on Monday demanding the release of jailed politicians.
DAILY NATION

Pakistan PM Imran Khan Lifts Censorship of State T.V., Radio
The Imran Khan government has ended censorship of state-run media outlets Pakistan TV and Radio Pakistan, given them “complete editorial independence”, and they would no longer be “used as private property” by the government.
TIMES OF INDIA

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