A human rights group released a new report detailing how security agencies and government officials in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have been using social media and dating apps to crack down on LGBTQIA+ people.
The report by Human Rights Watch, titled “All This Terror Because of a Photo: Digital Targeting and Its Offline Consequences for LGBT People in the Middle East and North Africa,” exposed how governments used digital methods to clamp down on the region’s LGBTQIA+ community.
After Pakistan blocked Wikipedia for three days over accusations of not removing allegedly blasphemous content, the online encyclopedia is up and running again.
On February 3, the Wikimedia Foundation, the organization that manages the popular crowd-sourced online directory, announced via Twitter that Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority blocked Wikipedia and its other projects.
Security researchers at Microsoft revealed on February 3 that a hacking team backed by the Iranian regime allegedly stole and leaked private customer data from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The Saudi Arabian government has been allegedly infiltrating the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia to control its editorial content, imprisoning two administrators in the process.
According to a report written by Theodoros Benakis, China's genocidal policy against Uyghurs, an ethnic Turkish group that resides in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), hit a new low. The Wumao army (also known as the "50 cent army"), known to be the trolls of the Chinese government, has hurt the religious sentiments of Uyghur Muslims on social media several times.
On October 26, Pope Francis talked about the dangers of digital pornography during a convention with seminarians in the Vatican. The Pope said that just like everyone else, nuns and priests watch pornographic content online.
A Christian woman is on trial for blasphemy after forwarding a WhatsApp message. Her actions sparked Muslim riots in northeast Nigeria.
Rhoda Ya'u Jatau, a 45 years old Christian health worker, was arrested on May 20 in Bauchi state. Her crime was receiving and forwarding a WhatsApp message from Ghana denouncing the horrible murder of a university student from the Sokoto state, Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu, who was also wrongly accused of blasphemy.
Saudi citizens have taken to social media in anger after a prominent doctor said in a televised interview that ninety-two percent of Saudi women had watched online pornography.
The Saudi Society for Infectious Diseases Director, Dr. Nizar Bahberi, gained a mass following during the Covid-19 pandemic. He has over 230,000 followers. In an interview on the Rotana Gulf channel, Dr. Bahberi was lamenting over access to pornography, which he claims is freely aired on satellite television.
Britney Spears, the 90s princess of pop, declared that she no longer believes in a god. "I'm an atheist, y'all (you all)," she said in an audio recording uploaded on Youtube.
The Gulf countries are known for censoring many movies and TV shows in the past. Their new decision may not come as a shock to many. The Arab countries have now demanded the immensely popular streaming site Netflix remove "offensive content," citing material that "violates Islamic and societal values and principles."
