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September 2022 in Middle East and North Africa: A free expression roundup produced by IFEX's Regional Editor Naseem Tarawnah, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
This report by the Future of Iran Initiative and Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) explores the social media habits of Iranian netizens and how the Islamic Republic is repressing the online space.
SOPA ImagesGetty Images If you read nothing else on Wednesday, I hope you catch this genuinely epic saga from David Folkenflik at NPR. I freely admit that my cyber knowledge and my general tech savvy can be measured with an eyedropper, but I know a good story when I read one, and any tale that includes Falun Gong, Steve Bannon, several incomprehensible acronyms, and the overall incompetence of the previous administration* is good to be going on with, as they say. And specifically, it involves a fierce, months-long battle over whether the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the U.S. State Depart...
at 10:54 am NPR Of all the disruptions unleashed by the Trump White House on how the federal government typically works, the saga of one small project, called the Open Technology Fund, stands out. The fantastical tale incorporates the spiritual movement Falun Gong, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, the daughter of a late liberal congressman and a zealous appointee of former President Donald Trump. And specifically, it involves a fierce, months-long battle over whether the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the U.S. State Department should subsidize software developed...
castigating USAGM and OTF: "Unfortunately, they have withheld sufficient funding from these technologies for nearly a decade," she wrote. Swett declined NPR's request for comment. A spokeswoman said the foundation supported an "all hands on deck" approach and saw the agency as an ally, even if they disagreed on strategy. Pack's prospects had accelerated once the White House launched an attack on the Voice of America for its coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in China. Bannon, who had advised Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and in the White House, told The Washington Post he had...