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Iraq Yazidis want Big Tech held to account for Islamic State crimes
[Published here on February 17, 2022]
BEIRUT, Feb 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Wahhab Hassoo’s family had to pay $80,000 to buy the release of his niece from the Islamic State (IS) militants who abducted her in 2014, and then offered her “for sale” in a WhatsApp group.
Now, Hassoo’s family and dozens of others from Iraq’s minority Yazidi community want social media companies to be held to account, accusing them of having facilitated the trafficking of Yazidi women and girls by the jihadists.
Facebook is a Battleground | Interview with Tech Won’t Save Us Podcast
On June 17, my colleague Avi Asher-Schapiro and I joined Paris Marx on his Tech Won’t Save Us podcast to discuss our investigation into Facebook’s blindspot when it comes to Arabic-language gay conversion therapy content.
Listen to the full episode on Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
BBC Newsday: Interview on LGBT+ conversion therapy on Facebook
June 4, 2021 / Maya Gebeily / Leave a comment
I was glad to speak to the BBC World Service about how Facebook has failed to apply its ban on LGBT+ conversion therapy content to Arabic-language posts.
Here’s the full interview, with my comments at 19:20.
Kenyan worker’s arrest shows power, and peril, of online advocacy
June 3, 2021June 3, 2021 / Maya Gebeily / Leave a comment
[Published here June 3, 2021]
BEIRUT, June 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – With perfect prose, sizzling sarcasm and a host of anonymous accounts, Malcolm Bidali has waged a one-man social media campaign to improve working conditions for migrant labourers in Qatar for nearly a year.
“It kind of makes me feel like Batman or Superman. You can say the things you want to say, with your own voice and your own style,” said Bidali, 28, speaking to the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Doha.
LGBT+ conversion therapy: banned on Facebook, but thriving in Arabic
June 3, 2021June 3, 2021 / Maya Gebeily / Leave a comment
[Produced alongside Thomson Reuters Foundation’s digital correspondent Avi Asher-Schapiro and published here on June 3, 2021]
When he was growing up in a small Egyptian town outside Cairo, Omar began feeling sexually attracted to other men. Too afraid to talk to family or friends, he turned to Facebook for help, shielding his identity with a false name.
Scouring social media for information and advice is a common recourse for young men and women who think they may be gay and live in socially conservative Arab societies.
But it can lead them to therapists, spiritual leaders and influencers promising to “cure the affliction” of homosexuality through so-called conversion therapy – practices that aim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Content moderation in conflict zones: What role for big tech?
May 21, 2021May 28, 2021 / Maya Gebeily / Leave a comment
[Published here May 21, 2021]
May 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Conflict broke out this month between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip – and big tech has not been spared.
Instagram and Twitter have blamed technical errors for deleting posts mentioning the possible eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, but data rights groups fear “discriminatory” algorithms are at work and want greater transparency.
Instagram, Twitter blame glitches for deleting Palestine posts
May 10, 2021May 28, 2021 / Maya Gebeily / Leave a comment
[Published here on May 10, 2021]
BEIRUT, May 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Instagram and Twitter have blamed technical errors for deleting posts mentioning the possible eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, but data rights groups fear “discriminatory” algorithms are at work and want greater transparency.
‘Revenge porn,’ leaked selfies: sextortion spreads in Iraq | AFP
November 20, 2019 / Maya Gebeily / Leave a comment
[Published here on November 20, 2019]
Baghdad (AFP) – The threat came by anonymous Instagram message one late Iraqi evening, making Hala’s blood run cold: “I’ve got all your pictures and recordings. Shall I send them to your dad?”
Innovative Iraqis dodge net blackout to illuminate protest violence | AFP
October 5, 2019November 2, 2019 / Maya Gebeily / Leave a comment
[Published here on October 5, 2019]
Baghdad (AFP) – With secret satellites, pricey messages abroad and clandestine file transfers, young Iraqis are circumventing an internet blackout aimed at stifling several days of bloody protests in the capital and beyond.
Lilian Cheaito has lived in silent suffering at a Beirut hospital from the moment she was admitted on August 4, 2020, bruised and bleeding from the Beirut blast.
Noel Musanga works as a cleaner and volunteers as a migrant advocate in Lebanon - where a mark-up in telecoms prices will make both of those roles much harder for her.
Take it to the mountain.
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