Facebook launches unprecedented media blackout on Syrian revolution Arabic news pages
#Beirut, 20-07-2013: In an unprecedented media blackout, Facebook has shut the accounts of a large number of leading Arabic Syrian revolution news pages, launching what activists insist is a coordinated attempt to suppress and silence non-Assad regime news sources.
In a clearly extremely well organised attempt to silence reporting and dissemination of revolution news, Facebook has closed a large number of news pages, including those of:
Prominent revolution activist Hadi Al Abdullah (222,000 subcribers)
Ugarit News (155,000 subscribers)
Homs International News (155,000 subscriber)
Coordinating Lebanon to Support the Syrian Revolution (100,000 subscribers)
Aleppo Now (153,000 subscribers)
Palestinian Support for the Syrian Revolution (55,000 subscribers)
Coordinating Khalidiya (48,000 subscribers)
Karam Hamshem News – Khalidiya – Homs (40 thousand subscribers)
People of Homs (50,000 subscribers)
Coordinating Arsal to Support the Syrian Revolution (40,000 subscribers)
All these pages were extremely credible news sources, using reporters inside Syria to convey verifiable and fact-checked news of what is happening there.
Amongst other pages closed were those of prominent Al Jazeera journalist Faisal Al Qassim, as well as those of Ammar Mussa and Firas Tlass, the son of the former defence minister whose page was also an invaluable source of news for Syrians in Syria and overseas and a platform for debate between supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime, which offered invaluable information on and insights into the various international parties involved in the situation in Syria.
Credible sources have asserted that the reason behind Facebook’s decision to close the pages was pressure from the US government over these pages’ opposition to the military coup in Egypt which overthrew President Morsi, as well as irritation at their dissemination of news not approved by the Assad regime. Facebook has been a primary news source for many people, with Assad regime-approved propaganda being disseminated by the majority of mainstream media. These pages were also a vital source of news during the recent regime attacks on and takeover of Al Qusair.
The message which admins on the shut-down pages received makes it clear that the decision to close the pages was taken by Facebook management, with no hacking by regime intelligence involved.
The reaction from Syrian revolution activists has been furious, with prominent activist Khalid Al Qahtani telling Radio Sawt Beirut International, “This happened after they realised that we relied on Facebook alone to deliver our voice and our message and tell the world about the massacres being carried out by the regime and Hezbollah, and due to the impact that news from these pages had on Arab and world public opinion. The Syrian regime has worked behind the scenes to close these pages in a variety of ways.”
Al Qahtani accused the United Arab Emirates’ leadership of playing a leading role in Facebook’s media blackout of Syrian revolution news since Facebook’s regional offices are stationed in the UAE. He stated that a main reason behind theUAE leadership’s decision to support the closure of revolution news pages was their (the leadership’s) support of the US-backed military coup in Egypt, as well as the major impact on regional news which the revolution news pages had had (with many activists in Syria being interviewed by Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and other regional media as a result of their news-sharing on Facebook).
Al Qahtani said that the arbitrary closure of these pages by the Facebook management also extended to Lebanese pages and news sites supportive of the Syrian revolution, which were closed “due to their support of the Syrian people’s freedom and their oppsition to the military coup in Egypt, as well as their demands for freedom from the hegemony of the Lebanese Hezbollah party.”
The activist said that the role of Facebook’s management in this media blackout of non-regime-approved news pages was clear, condemning the site’s administration for approving the closure of these pages without offering any convincing reasons for doing so, and adding that none of the pages in question had violated Facebook’s terms and conditions.
He further asserted that this indicates that Facebook’s management is happy to suppress media freedom and gag all voices calling for freedom for the Syrian people, while condoning the presence of pages supporting the Assad regime’s continuing brutal repression and genocide; it has been confirmed by Facebook management that no pages supporting the Assad regime have been closed.
Al Qahtani, an activist who was a student of Management Studies prior to the revolution, urged the management of Facebook to reconsider this decision and to help in restoring the rights and freedom of the Syrian people, rather than “working with rulers who suppress freedom online as they do to their people in real life.”
Revolution activists are already launching a protest campaign on various other social networking sites to reject further closure by Facebook of Syrian revolution news sites and to demand the reopening of the news pages closed by Facebook, as well as working to find alternative means of sharing and disseminating revolution news.
From: Radio Sawt Beirut International
http://www.sawtbeirut.com/breaking/193082
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