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Turkiye summons Instagram officials over platform freeze

Turkiye summons Instagram officials over platform freeze
The freeze has harmed business for telecoms operators and vendors who sell goods via the platform. (AFP)
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Updated 05 August 2024
AFP
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Turkiye summons Instagram officials over platform freeze

Turkiye summons Instagram officials over platform freeze
  • This is not the first time that Turkish authorities have temporarily blocked access to social media sites, including Facebook, X and Wikipedia
Updated 05 August 2024
AFP
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ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s government on Monday called officials from Instagram to a meeting, four days after blocking the social media platform for unspecified reasons.
Instagram, which has been suspended in Turkiye since Friday, has been accused by the authorities both of censorship and of failing to remove posts the authorities deemed offensive.
The freeze has harmed business for telecoms operators and vendors who sell goods via the platform.
Private television channel NTV said representatives in Turkiye of the platform, which is owned by Facebook parent Meta, would meet Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu at 1:00 p.m. (1000 GMT).
“We will meet them this afternoon. We hope they will do what’s necessary to respond to our demands. We’re hoping for positive developments,” Uraloglu said on X.
The minister said he had blocked access to Instagram because of “content-related offenses,” without giving details.
“Last week there was a meeting with representatives of the platform, in which we set out our views on respect for Turkish laws,” he continued.
For many Turkish businesses, Monday’s meeting cannot come soon enough.
An estimated 50-60 million of Turkiye’s 85 million inhabitants subscribe to Instagram, which serves as a platform for a wide range of commercial activities.
This is not the first time that Turkish authorities have temporarily blocked access to social media sites, including Facebook, X and Wikipedia.
Erdogan’s government is regularly accused of muzzling freedom of expression.

Topics: Turkiye

‘Ethics first, then AI:’ SDAIA President stresses importance of responsible development ahead of GAIN Summit

‘Ethics first, then AI:’ SDAIA President stresses importance of responsible development ahead of GAIN Summit
Updated 1 min 46 sec ago
Lama Alhamawi
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‘Ethics first, then AI:’ SDAIA President stresses importance of responsible development ahead of GAIN Summit

‘Ethics first, then AI:’ SDAIA President stresses importance of responsible development ahead of GAIN Summit
  • Abdullah Al Ghamdi highlights the importance of ethical AI development and Saudi Arabia's leadership in responsible AI deployment
Updated 1 min 46 sec ago
Lama Alhamawi

RIYADH: Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) President Abdullah Al Ghamdi emphasized the critical importance of ethical AI usage, positioning Saudi Arabia as a global leader in responsible AI deployment for societal benefit during a press conference ahead of the third GAIN Summit.

Al Ghamdi highlighted the summit's core theme, saying, “With respect to this summit, this summit will cover different aspects. But the main thing for this summit is the GAIN, the ‘N’ has three N’s the next, now and never.”

He told Arab News that: “‘Never’ has to do with the ethics, where AI has to stop. We are going to talk about the ‘Never’ big time, different ethics and different aspects related to the principles of using AI in a responsible way.”

He explained that that agency is “continuing what we started in the national arena,” bringing the conversation on AI safety to global summits the Kingdom has recently taken part.

The GAIN Summit, organized by SDAIA, will take place from Sept. 10-12 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center, under the patronage of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The event will feature 456 speakers and 150 sessions, with approximately 70 Memoranda of Understanding expected to be signed.

During his interview, the SDAIA president addressed growing global concerns about AI misuse and highlighted the Kingdom’s proactive approach through various policies, including the creation of a National Data Management Office, which oversees the development of policies and regulations related to data control and management.

“We established a national data management office, this office is concerned with issuing policies and laws for the respect of the control and management of data,” he told Arab News.

Al Ghamdi detailed the national initiatives led by the Kingdom to address global AI concerns such as ethical use and data protection.

“We have published a number of policies with respect to data sharing and the freedom of information,” he said.

“Recently we published the principles of Gen AI on how we can use AI in an ethical way. We (also) announced the national AI ethics framework, and this was designed according to the UNESCO ethics framework principles the 7 principles.”

Esam Alwagait, Director of the National Information Center, reinforced Al Ghamdi’s remarks, stating, “All policies align with ensuring ethical AI practices.”

Al Ghamdi also highlighted policies aimed at protecting children’s data, noting that recent guidelines have been introduced to safeguard children in the digital age.

During his remarks, the SDAIA president also stated that the Kingdom is “open to all opportunities from the East and the West,” and expressed a willingness to collaborate with global leaders in AI from the US, Europe, and Asia.

Yasser Al Onaizan , CEO of the National Center for AI also weighted in the debate, underscoring the need for “ethics by design” in AI development.

“It’s not enough to have policies,” he said. “It’s very important to start thinking to design AI solutions that have the ethics as a design principle form the get-go,” Al Onaizan told Arab News in response to a question on the subject.

He added: “It should not be a reaction to something that happens, you have to install it in everyone who works in the AI development cycle.”

On the sidelines of the summit, SDAIA is set to host the GAIN podcast featuring top CEOs and industry leaders such as Dr. Jake P. Taylor-King Co- founder of Relation Therapeutics, Tahir Latif, Global Practice Lead on AI & Data Privacy, at Cognizant Technology Solutions and Lorena Puica, founder and CEO of syd.life, science-backed and AI-powered life quality platform.

Topics: Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) GAIN 2024

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The third Global Artificial Intelligence Summit will be held from Sept. 10 to 12 in Riyadh. (globalaisummit.org)
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BBC ‘blocking’ major Gaza humanitarian appeal, insiders say

BBC ‘blocking’ major Gaza humanitarian appeal, insiders say
Updated 08 September 2024
Arab News
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BBC ‘blocking’ major Gaza humanitarian appeal, insiders say

BBC ‘blocking’ major Gaza humanitarian appeal, insiders say
  • The corporation has been accused of being concerned over a potential backlash from supporters of Israel
Updated 08 September 2024
Arab News

LONDON: NGO officials have accused Britain’s public broadcaster of "blocking" a major humanitarian appeal for Gaza.

The BBC, which placed the appeal “under review,” is said to be concerned over a potential backlash from supporters of Israel.

Several other television channels have agreed to air the humanitarian appeal for the embattled Palestinian enclave.

The campaign is organized by the Disasters Emergency Committee, The Guardian reported on Friday.

The BBC claimed DEC’s appeal had failed to meet all the criteria for a national appeal but noted that the option to air it was “under review,” a position that dismayed the DEC, an umbrella group of UK charities.

Sources within the DEC, the BBC and aid agencies accused the BBC of “blocking” the appeal because it feared backlash from groups supporting Israel in its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

One senior NGO figure said that staff were “furious” at the BBC’s decision.

The DEC follows three criteria when launching an appeal. The scale and urgency of the disaster must warrant immediate international humanitarian aid.

DEC member agencies, or some of them, must be able “to provide effective and swift humanitarian assistance at a scale to justify a national appeal” and there must be “evidence of existing public sympathy for the humanitarian situation” or “the likelihood of significant public support should an appeal be launched,” according to the DEC’s website.

The DEC is an umbrella organization of 15 leading UK aid charities raising funds to address humanitarian disasters.

Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, launched in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, has so far killed more than 40,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Relentless bombardment over the past 11 months has devastated medical and sanitation infrastructure, razed entire neighborhoods, almost annihilated the education sector, brought the enclave’s healthcare system to its knees and displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s population at least once.

An enormous humanitarian response is needed to address the overlapping crises, aid officials have warned.

About 96 percent of Gaza’s population is facing acute food insecurity, according to UN figures.

The vast majority of the international community has repeatedly called for a ceasefire to enable uninterrupted aid flow into Gaza, to no avail.

Topics: Gaza BBC

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AFP photographer wins top prize for Gaza coverage

AFP photographer wins top prize for Gaza coverage
Updated 08 September 2024
AFP
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AFP photographer wins top prize for Gaza coverage

AFP photographer wins top prize for Gaza coverage
Updated 08 September 2024
AFP

PERPIGNAN, France: Palestinian AFP photographer Mahmud Hams has won the prestigious Visa d’Or News prize for his coverage of the conflict in Gaza, the Visa pour l’Image Association announced Saturday.
The 44-year-old, who has worked for AFP in the Palestinian territory since 2003, thanked the jury for the award in a recorded video message aired at the ceremony in Perpignan, France.
In a statement issued by AFP, he denounced the targeting of journalists during the conflict.
“I spent my childhood in Gaza, and in 23 years of photojournalism, I have witnessed every war, every conflict there,” said Hams in the statement.
“But this war is unlike any other, without precedent from the very first day.
“My colleagues and I have had to face incredibly difficult conditions, with no red lines and no protections for anyone,” he added.
“There were even attacks targeting journalists’ offices, which are supposed to be off-limits in times of war.
“Many journalists have been killed; others wounded. I’ve also lost friends and loved ones. We struggled to keep our families safe,” he said.
Hams left Gaza with his family in February.
“I hope the photos we take show the world that this war, and the suffering, must end,” he added.
Eric Baradat, AFP’s Deputy News Director for Photo, Graphics, Data and Archives, paid tribute to his work.
“Mahmud and his colleagues, photographers and journalists from AFP in the Gaza Strip, have carried out extraordinary work in every respect, considering the conditions in which they lived with their families and loved ones,” he said.
“It is staggering and often unimaginable. Their testimony will be recorded in history,” he added.
After the deadly October 7 attack carried out by Hamas on Israel sparked the war, AFP relied on its Gaza bureau, staffed by nine journalists, to cover the conflict from within the besieged Palestinian territory.
On November 2, the office building, which had been evacuated a few days earlier, was badly damaged by a strike, probably caused by Israeli tank fire, according to an investigation conducted by AFP and several international media outlets.

 

Topics: Palestine Gaza US Palestinian AFP photographer Mahmud Hams

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Brazil’s X ban drives outraged Bolsonaro supporters to rally for ‘free speech’

Brazil’s X ban drives outraged Bolsonaro supporters to rally for ‘free speech’
Updated 08 September 2024
AP
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Brazil’s X ban drives outraged Bolsonaro supporters to rally for ‘free speech’

Brazil’s X ban drives outraged Bolsonaro supporters to rally for ‘free speech’
  • The former president has urged his loyalists to stay away from official independence day parades and instead join him in Sao Paulo
  • X platform owner Elon Musk has also urged Brazilians to turn out in droves for the rally as he hit back against a judicial order banning X
  • Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered X banned in the country for refusing to block accounts that were being used to undermine Brazilian democracy
Updated 08 September 2024
AP

SAO PAULO: Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began flooding Sao Paulo’s main boulevard for an Independence Day rally Saturday, buoyed by the government’s blocking of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s X platform, a ban they say is proof of their political persecution.
A few thousand demonstrators, clad in the yellow-and-green colors of Brazil’s flag, poured onto Av. Paulista. References to the ban on X and images of Musk abounded.
“Thank you for defending our freedom,” read one banner praising the tech entrepreneur.
Saturday’s march is a test of Bolsonaro’s capacity to mobilize turnout ahead of the October municipal elections, even though Brazil’s electoral court has barred him from running for office until 2030. It’s also something of a referendum on X, whose suspension has raised eyebrows even among some of Bolsonaro’s opponents all the while stoking the flames of Brazil’s deep-seated political polarization.
“A country without liberty can’t celebrate anything this day,” Bolsonaro wrote on his Instagram account Sept 4., urging Brazilians to stay away from official independence day parades and instead join him in Sao Paulo.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X’s nationwide ban on Aug. 30 after months of feuding with Musk over the limits of free speech. The powerful judge has spearheaded efforts to ban far-right users from spreading misinformation on social media, and he ramped up his clampdown after die-hard Bolsonaro supporters ransacked Congress and the presidential palace on Jan. 8, 2023, in an attempt to overturn Bolsonaro’s defeat in the presidential election.
The ban is red meat to Bolsonaro’s allies, who have accused the judiciary and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government of colluding to silence their movement.
“Elon Musk has been a warrior for freedom of speech,” staunch Bolsonaro ally and lawmaker Bia Kicis said in an interview. “The right is being oppressed, massacred, because the left doesn’t want the right to exist.”
“Our liberties are in danger, we need to make our voices heard. De Moraes is a tyrant, he should be impeached, and people on the streets is the only thing that will convince politicians to do it,” added retiree Amaro Santos as he walked down the thoroughfare Saturday,
Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has also urged Brazilians to turn out in droves for the rally, resharing someone else’s post claiming that X’s ban had awakened people “to the fact that freedom isn’t free and needs to be fought for.” He’s also created an X account, named for the controversial jurist, to publish sealed court orders directing X to shut down accounts deemed unlawful.
But De Moraes’ decision to ban X was far from arbitrary, having been upheld by fellow Supreme Court justices. And while expression, online and elsewhere, is more easily censored under Brazil’s laws than it is in the US, Musk has emerged as both a cause célèbre and a mouthpiece for unrestricted free speech.
Since 2019, X has shut down 226 accounts of far-right activities accused of undermining Brazil’s democracy, including those of lawmakers affiliated with Bolsonaro’s party, according to court records.
But when it refused to take action on some accounts, de Moraes warned last month that its legal representative could be arrested, prompting X to disband its local office. The US-based company refused to name a new representative — as required in order to receive court notices — and de Moraes ordered its nationwide suspension until it did so.
A Supreme Court panel unanimously upheld de Moraes’ decision to block X days later, undermining Musk’s efforts to cast him as an authoritarian bent on censoring political speech.
The more controversial component of his ruling was the levy of a whopping $9,000 daily fine for regular Brazilians using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X.
“Some of these measures that have been adopted by the Supreme Court appear to be quite onerous and abusive,” said Andrei Roman, CEO of Brazil-based pollster Atlas Intel.
In the lead-up to Saturday’s protest, some right-wing politicians defied de Moraes’ ban and brazenly used a VPN to publish posts on X, calling for people to partake in the protests.
The march in Sao Paulo is organized in parallel to official events to celebrate Brazil’s anniversary of independence from Portugal. Commemorations have been fraught with tension in recent years, as Bolsonaro used them while in office to rally supporters and show political strength.
Three years ago, he threatened to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis when he declared he would no longer abide de Moraes’ rulings. He has since toned down the attacks — a reflection of his own delicate legal situation.
Bolsonaro has been indicted twice since his term ended in 2022, most recently for alleged money laundering in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia. De Moraes is overseeing an investigation into the Jan. 8 riot, including whether Bolsonaro had a role in inciting it.
 

Topics: Brazil Jair Bolsonaro X platform

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Telegram chief Durov announces ‘new features’ to combat illicit content

Telegram chief Durov announces ‘new features’ to combat illicit content
Updated 07 September 2024
AFP
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Telegram chief Durov announces ‘new features’ to combat illicit content

Telegram chief Durov announces ‘new features’ to combat illicit content
  • Durov said Telegram had removed the “people nearby” feature, which allowed users to locate other Telegram users but he said “was used by less than 0.1 percent of Telegram users, but had issues with bots and scammers”
Updated 07 September 2024
AFP

PARIS: Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov on Friday announced a range of new features aimed at combating illicit content, bots and scammers, a week after he was arrested and charged by French authorities over violations on the messaging app.
Durov had on Thursday broken his silence with his first public comments following his arrest, which he slammed as “misguided” and “surprising.”
But he had also acknowledged that Telegram was “not perfect” and would take more action against illegal content which he argues comes from a tiny proportion of its 950 million users.
“While 99.999 percent of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001 percent involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk,” he wrote in his new statement on Telegram Friday.
“That’s why this year we are committed to turn moderation on Telegram from an area of criticism into one of praise,” he added.
Durov said Telegram had removed the “people nearby” feature, which allowed users to locate other Telegram users but he said “was used by less than 0.1 percent of Telegram users, but had issues with bots and scammers.”
In its place, Telegram is launching “businesses nearby” to showcase “legitimate, verified businesses.”
He said Telegram had also disabled new media uploads to Telegraph, its standalone blogging tool, “which seems to have been misused by anonymous actors,” he said.
Following four days of detention, Durov, 39, was charged on several counts of failing to curb extremist and illegal content on Telegram.
He had been arrested August 24 at Le Bourget airport outside Paris after arriving aboard a private jet and was questioned in the subsequent days by investigators.
Durov was granted bail of five million euros ($5.5 million) on the condition that he must report to a police station twice a week as well as remain in France.
On Thursday, he defiantly said that France was wrong to hold him accountable for “crimes committed by third parties on the platform.”
An enigmatic figure who rarely speaks in public, Durov is a citizen of Russia, France and the United Arab Emirates, where Telegram is based.
Forbes magazine estimates his current fortune at $15.5 billion, though he proudly promotes the virtues of an ascetic life that includes ice baths and not drinking alcohol or coffee.
 

 

Topics: Telegram app Pavel Durov

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‘Ethics first, then AI:’ SDAIA President stresses importance of responsible development ahead of GAIN Summit
‘Ethics first, then AI:’ SDAIA President stresses importance of responsible development ahead of GAIN Summit

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