Articles repérés par Hervé Le Crosnier

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  • The scary trend of internet shutdowns - Poynter
    https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2019/the-scary-trend-of-internet-shutdowns

    Around the world, governments have been turning to network shutdowns with increasing frequency to quell unrest and suppress the spread of rumors and fake news. But there is no empirical evidence that proves this tactic is effective, and activists and journalists alike have raised concerns over the catastrophic side effects these shutdowns often have on communities.

    “The official justification given by governments and the impact (of these shutdowns) on the ground rarely match,” said Berhan Taye, the leader of Access Now’s #KeepItOn campaign. Access Now is an international non-profit that advocates for a free and open internet around the world, and the #KeepItOn campaign has been documenting and verifying instances of internet shutdowns since 2016.

    “Shutdowns are being normalized, as if they’re expected to happen,” Taye told the IFCN. “(There’s the sense) amongst journalists, activists and others that shutdowns during 2020 elections are going to happen, so we need to prepare.”

    Shutdowns in India: Popularly used, questionably effective

    Africa and Asia are the two continents most affected by internet shutdowns, and India is by far the greatest perpetrator: 67% of #KeepItOn’s documented shutdowns in 2018 have taken place in India, with 134 incidents.

    The Stanford study found that mass mobilization in India can occur even in the absence of social media and digital platforms.

    In fact, removing these tools “can turn a predictable situation into one that is highly volatile … Rumors and disinformation continue to spread with or without access to digital communication networks, whose primary role is that of accelerators of information diffusion.”

    Taye of the #KeepItOn campaign warned that while 33 of the shutdowns that occurred in 2018 were justified by governments claiming they wanted to curb mis/disinformation, “The spread of fake news did not start with Facebook. The issue of disinformation did not start with Facebook.”

    “The problem we have now is the speed at which it’s being shared… But when you cut people off from being able to access information, the only access they have is to previous misinformation.”

    Taye added that another side effect of the shutdown in Sri Lanka was that “people were not able to find their loved ones, not able to share information, and there was no one providing what the actual correct narrative is, and what’s happening on the ground.”

    #Censure #Internet #Coupure_réseau #Fake_news