Media
Social media giants accused of ‘silencing’ Kashmir voices – Al Jazeera English
A report by a Kashmiri diaspora group has accused social media giants Twitter, Facebook and Instagram of silencing Kashmiri voices in the digital spaces through the frequent suspension of the accounts of artists, academics, and journalists based in and outside the disputed region, a move termed by experts as “reprehensible”.
A 30-page report by the Stand With Kashmir (SWK), titled “How social media corporations enable silence on Kashmir”, claims that since 2017, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms have continually silenced Kashmir-related content.
In August 2019, when the Indian government scrapped the region’s semi-autonomous status, it imposed a sweeping communication and internet shutdown in the region. The shutdown continued for months – the longest internet suspension that took place in a democracy, according to Access Now, an international organisation that tracks internet access around the world.
Indian security personnel stand guard along the street of Srinagar on the second anniversary of stripping of Kashmir’s semi-autonomy [File: Abid Bhat/AFP]Last year, the advocacy group’s report revealed that India topped the list of internet shutdowns in the world among 129 countries as 109 of total 155 internet shutdowns took place in the country.
About its report, the SWK spokesperson told Al Jazeera that “since August 2019, the level of censorship of Kashmiri voices in person but also on social media has only increased”.
“Kashmiris already have no avenues to express themselves in person. Social media provided an outlet for them,” the spokesperson said, adding, “not only is the Indian government going after Kashmiri social media users in Kashmir, but social media companies are also complicit in censoring Kashmiris by removing content, blocking important accounts that provide information, and restricting the reach of content. This is unacceptable.”
‘More reprehensible’
Digital rights activists have also expressed their concerns over “the arbitrary removal of the online content” by the social media platforms.
Krishnesh Bapat, a lawyer and fellow with Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights group based in the capital, New Delhi, told Al Jazeera that “there is a general lack of transparency whenever the social media content is taken down”.
“The content is taken down arbitrarily and it is also restored arbitrarily,” Bapat said, adding, “it is very difficult to gauge if they [social media sites] are doing it on the behest of someone else or themselves.”
Geeta Seshu, co-founder of Free Speech Collective – a group that advocates for freedom of speech, told Al Jazeera, “Successive governments have censored and silenced voices of dissent in Kashmir for decades now but when social media companies do so too, it becomes all the more reprehensible.”
Successive governments have censored and silenced voices of dissent in Kashmir for decades now but when social media companies do so too, it becomes all the more reprehensible
“Companies like Twitter and Facebook are platforms for people to speak out and make themselves heard, not just to those in power but also to one another,” said Seshu, who is based in Mumbai.
“If these social media companies succumb to pressure from the government to silence or fail to push back on take-down requests, they do their users a huge disservice,” she said, adding that the censorship also “flies in the face of the avowed principles of these companies to provide safe spaces for conversations”.
In its statement to Al Jazeera regarding the allegations, a Twitter spokesperson said: “Twitter’s reporting processes are designed to be transparent and to enable real accountability.”
Twitter’s reporting processes are designed to be transparent and to enable real accountability
“Where possible, we provide user notice when we receive these requests. Importantly, unless we are prohibited from doing so, when we remove or withhold content in a certain country, Twitter will provide a copy of the request to the publicly available Lumen Database. When content is withheld, it is only withheld in the country making the removal demand and remains visible in all other jurisdictions,” it said.
‘Curb expression’
In SWK’s online poll with 32,000 followers about the experience of censorship, the report says, it received a response from 311 followers in which 62 percent of respondents said they had experienced some kind of censorship on the three platforms of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The document says: “Corporations are siding with India’s suppression of Kashmiri digital rights, including the government’s blockade of internet and telecommunications access in the region, as well as its weaponisation of the law and policy to curb the expression of Kashmiri political aspirations in the digital space.”
In its six months of research, including surveys and interviews with people based in and outside Kashmir, the group found that Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are censoring and crippling their online spaces of expression.
India, which has a vast internet market of nearly 700 million users, announced strict rules to regulate content on social media earlier this year [File: Dar Yasin/AP Photo]The group demanded that the social media firms must fulfil their stated human rights obligations to people and provide transparency about the removal of content.
“… users’ accounts were disabled, suspended and permanently deleted. Users reported their account privileges were restricted or account content was removed. Users also say platforms offered dishonest technical reasons for the censorship of their accounts,” the report said.
It said the majority of Kashmiri users felt the platforms did not redress the censorship issues they were facing in an effective and timely manner.
In October 2019, two months after the scrapping of Kashmir’s special status by the Indian authorities, when the region was under a crippling digital and military lockdown, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a global media watchdog, revealed in a report that “hundreds of thousands of tweets blocked in India since August 2017” had focused on Kashmir.
The report said the vast majority of the withheld accounts were from the group that referenced Kashmir, hosting more than 920,000 tweets between them.
The Twitter transparency report also revealed that more accounts were withheld in India in the second half of 2018 than in the rest of the world combined.
‘New rules’
In recent years, as internet usage became widespread in the region, social media became a prominent mode of expressing opinions in the region claimed by India and Pakistan. However, they control only parts of the Muslim-majority Himalayan territory.
The regional government has frequently ordered internet shutdowns on the ground it is being used to incite protests. In recent years, many users have been booked, summoned and questioned over their social media content.
Last year, two Kashmiri journalists, Masarat Zahra and Gowhar Geelani, were booked under the anti-terror law for their social media posts. The police claimed their posts were “prejudicial to the national integrity, sovereignty and security of India”.
India, which has a vast internet market of nearly 700 million users, announced strict rules to regulate content on social media earlier this year. Under the new rules, social media companies are under a legal obligation to remove posts and share information on the origin of content at the request of the government.
The rules, called the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, have sparked criticism from digital rights activists and raised concerns about the freedom of speech in the country.
‘Restricting social media reach’
Mir Suhail, a Kashmiri artist based in New York who is also quoted in the SWK report, has accused the social media corporations of restricting his social media reach.
“In early 2020, on an almost daily basis, I started getting notifications that my Instagram posts were being removed for hate speech or symbols,” Suhail, who has about 50,000 followers on Instagram, was quoted as saying in the report.
“The same thing was happening on Twitter. I was drawing on different subjects related to the experiences of marginalised communities in India about the experiences of Indian Muslims, the new citizenship laws and on Kashmir,” he said.
“To this day, there is a sensitivity filter on my Twitter account for each and everything I post, even if it is something entirely unremarkable. I share my work on these platforms and in doing so trust them to be ethical in how they handle it.”
In its statement to Al Jazeera regarding the allegations, a Twitter spokesperson said: “Twitter’s reporting processes are designed to be transparent and to enable real accountability.”
“Where possible, we provide user notice when we receive these requests. Importantly, unless we are prohibited from doing so, when we remove or withhold content in a certain country, Twitter will provide a copy of the request to the publicly available Lumen Database. When content is withheld, it is only withheld in the country making the removal demand and remains visible in all other jurisdictions,” it said.
Facebook and Instagram did not reply to Al Jazeera’s request for response until the time of publication of the article.
Trump Media & Technology Group said it will issue millions more shares, sending its stock plunging again.
The company behind former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it is registering the resale of up to almost 21.5 million new shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants, up to about 146 million shares of common stock, and up to about 4 million warrants to purchase common stock. Certain shares held by insiders may still be restricted from trading until the expiration of a lock-up agreement 5-6 months after the date of the IPO.
New York
CNN
—
Trump Media, the parent company of the former president’s Truth Social, alerted Nasdaq Inc. on Thursday of what the company suspects is illegal activity driving down the price of its shares.
In a letter to the exchange, Devin Nunes, the CEO of Trump Media (DJT), laid out what he believes could be deemed “naked” short selling.
Naked short selling involves someone selling shares they don’t own or have not borrowed. They will often then try to buy shares at a reduced price to cover themselves. This practice is generally illegal. Whereas legitimate short sellers, people who seek to benefit from declines in the value of a company’s shares, borrow the shares before selling.
The letter was made public Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Nunes also noted in the letter that shares of the company were on a list the Nasdaq maintains that’s “indicative of unlawful trading activity.”
“This is particularly troubling given that “naked” short selling often entails sophisticated market participants profiting at the expense of retail investors,” he said.
Representatives from Nasdaq and Trump Media did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The company, which is majority-owned by former President Donald Trump, is down by around 50% from the all-time high it set on March 26, the day after it merged with a blank-check acquisition company to go public.
Shares of company have been on a wild ride since.
Although the company is still worth billions of dollars, it is struggling to make money and needs cash. Experts have warned investors to be careful if they choose to trade the stock, because the company doesn’t have the fundamentals to back up its sky-high valuation.
Trump Media lost $58 million in 2023 and made just $4.1 million in revenue.
Shares of the company ended Friday’s session about 9.6% higher.
This story has been updated with additional developments and context.
CNN’s Nicole Goodkind contributed to this report.
Social media changes rapidly—and what worked last year might not work in 2024. (Just look at X’s, or Twitter’s, dramatic revenue loss after many major platforms have stopped posting or advertising on the platform.) So what does work on social media right now, particularly for event professionals?
“We don’t just want our audience to understand what we do—we want them to know who we are,” says Zoe Haynes, the sales and marketing coordinator for PlatinumXP who oversees the event planning agency’s digital marketing. “Social media has evolved into a space for cultivating relationships and building trust. We utilize various platforms to tell stories—the story of an event transformation, behind the scenes with our production crew, or maybe even some fun office shenanigans with our CEO.”
Haynes’ focus on maintaining a consistent, authentic brand presence was a common theme among event professionals we spoke to about how they’re using social media right now. It’s all about “fostering an ongoing connection with our followers,” agrees Elias Contessotto, social media manager for event production company 15|40.
But remember: Not every platform is created equal. Contessotto stresses the importance of tailoring your approach with each platform—but also not being afraid to experiment a bit to ensure you’re staying ahead of trends and maximizing audience engagement. “By creatively testing new tactics, we gauge audience response and efficacy, gradually integrating successful approaches into our channels,” he explains. “This iterative process empowers us to refine our content strategy continuously, adapting to evolving trends and audience preferences.”
In short, “It’s all about meeting your audience where they’re at,” says Taylor Elliot, vice president of marketing and brand strategy for Shepard Exposition Services. “Social media is such a great tool to amplify your brand voice. I always say as marketers we need to create a system that works for our brand even when we are sleeping, and social media is one of the tools to help achieve this.”
LINKEDIN & INSTAGRAM
From our conversations, LinkedIn and Instagram quickly emerged as the two top platforms in the event industry. “Instagram is our go-to for showcasing stunning event photos—however, LinkedIn holds equal if not greater importance in our strategy,” explains Haynes. “While Instagram captures attention with its visual allure, LinkedIn allows us to dive deeper into industry conversations and build relationships with our peers.”
Contessotto likes to target a B2B audience with 15|40’s LinkedIn presence, posting content that focuses on industry insights, professional networking, and collaborations with studios. “We often share static posts similar to those on Instagram, tagging relevant studios to expand our reach,” he says, noting that LinkedIn posts are often reshared by team leaders and executives. “LinkedIn [also] serves as a prime platform for spotlighting press coverage, award nominations, and industry highlights.”
On Instagram, meanwhile, Contessotto expands 15|40’s content to cater to both B2B and B2C audiences. “We share visually engaging posts that highlight our expertise, industry leadership, and collaborations, appealing to a wider range of followers,” he says. “Instagram will have ‘POV’ content, which is much more personal and requires less high-quality tools to tell our story. I came to 15|40 from an influencer background, and from experience, I notice that more amateur content does better on that platform, like using an iPhone for reels rather than a DSLR camera.”
Heather Rouffe, director of sales at Atlas Event Rental, also appreciates the more personal touch that can come with Instagram. “Through that platform, we strive to educate the industry, create brand awareness, and most importantly to us, show the personal side to our company, brand, and rentals,” she explains. “With so much of the human side of things lost in a digital age, being personable and showing the people behind the brand is very important to us. We find the clients really appreciate the behind-the-scenes content and becoming familiar with the Atlas crew.”
On the flip side, though, that doesn’t mean LinkedIn can’t get a little personal. Al Mercuro, senior account director at trade show display company Genesis Exhibits, prioritizes LinkedIn due to the connections he’s been able to make with marketing directors and event directors at companies he’d like to do business with.
“I try to not promote my company as much as my brand by sharing information that will help them in their jobs—I find I get many referrals this way,” Mercuro notes. “I believe it is also a living resume; before I meet with someone, they will often check out my LinkedIn page to learn more about me. The more you can build up your profile and the number of connections you have adds to your value and makes it attractive to have them want to work with you.”
Jonathan Kazarian, the founder and CEO of Accelevents, also uses LinkedIn to build up his personal thought leadership—and therefore, build awareness of his event management software company. “Ninety-nine percent of what I share on LinkedIn is professional,” he says. “I’ll share something about my personal life to build connection, but that’s not my focus with LinkedIn.”
FACEBOOK, TWITTER (X), TIKTOK, & MORE
In a sign of changing times, most of the event professionals we spoke with are not investing much in Facebook or Twitter (now known as X)—though many are still updating them.
“We push out all of our Instagram content to our Facebook, to ensure our followers and intended audiences on both platforms are receiving similar content,” says Contessotto. “We also maintain our Twitter, or X, channel to share some of our event photos, as well as retweet content that clients we work with post that are captured at our events.”
Mercuro finds that Facebook is still an effective way to reach older generations—but for younger generations, he’s found some success marketing events on TikTok. “I am a board member of a nonprofit concert venue, and we needed to attract a younger audience,” he remembers. “I suggested we work with a local university and their marketing classes to take on a project like our organization to give them real-life experience. They chose to use TikTok to reach the younger demographics in our area, and it has been extremely successful.”
Contessotto agrees that TikTok is naturally very Gen Z-oriented, so content should be tailored accordingly. “We’ve noticed that we typically receive high engagement when our content is celebrity-focused,” he says. “Our team is constantly working to balance out our TikTok pages to include viral content, as well as videos that highlight our diverse portfolio of work to attract the right kind of audience.”
Haynes says she’s still exploring TikTok’s potential for Platinum XP. “I’ve noticed its popularity as a discovery platform,” she says. “It’s a great tool for driving awareness, but we should also consider whether our target audience is active on TikTok.” One tool that Haynes does invest time in? Pinterest. “It’s a powerful tool for SEO purposes. Its visual nature allows us to drive awareness to our website through captivating photos. By sparking curiosity, we encourage users to click through and explore further.”
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