This month, Google took down a blog (hosted by this very
site) that was loaded with violent xenophobic content directed towards a
certain group of foreigners residing in the city state of Singapore. That blog,
which was posted on Blogger, encouraged Singaporeans to shove these foreigners
in crowded public places and decline being served by them in restaurants. On
the other hand, Twitter has allowed ISIS militants, responsible for the brutal
slaughter of thousands of Iraqis, to continue to tweet their propaganda and
elicit the support of militants worldwide. These two contrasting approaches towards
the censorship of digital media highlight the increasing political power and
influence held by private corporations. Now it is internet behemoths like
Google and Twitter, not totalitarian governments, not the collective will of
people residing in democracies, that decide what is published and what is
censored.
No comments:
Post a Comment