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Turkey turning Hagia Sophia back into mosque divides social media – Al Jazeera English

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People in Turkey and around the globe have expressed mixed opinions on social media following the Turkish government’s controversial decision to turn Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia back to a mosque.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s declaration on Friday came after a Turkish high court stripped the sixth-century Byzantine site’s museum status, paving the way for it to be converted into a mosque.

The court cancelled 1934’s council of ministers’ decision to turn the establishment into a museum and said Hagia Sophia was registered as a mosque in its property deeds.

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Hagia Sophia was built as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire and was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453 and changed the city’s name to Istanbul.

The building, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the historical part of the metropolis, has been an attraction for tourists worldwide, and visited by millions of people every year.

Erdogan has many a time openly expressed his support to turn Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.

The decision, however, has once again revealed the polarisation between secular and religious Turks in the country.

Some social media users celebrated the decision as a victory for Muslims.

“Congratulations to the Muslim world. Hagia Sofia is no longer a Museum. It has been turned back into a Mosque. 1st AZAAN after 8 decades took place today. #Turkey Does It Again. Alhamdolillah,” a social media user from Pakistan, Mir Mohammad Alikhan, tweeted.

Engin Altan Duzyatan, a Turkish Twitter user, said “The chains around the Ayasofya have been broken.”

“Turkey will no longer be the same. The time has come for it rightfully command its sovereignty. The spirit of the Ottomans have been revived in the hearts of the Turks. Allahu Ekber! What a time to be alive in!” 

‘Hagia Sofia belongs to humanity’

However, many other social media users disagreed with the decision, saying the World Heritage Site should have stayed neutral.

Razan Ibraheem, whose account says she is based in Ireland, said “the extraordinary history” of Hagia Sofia “should have been kept for everyone from all religions and backgrounds”.

“It should have been kept as a museum and a world heritage site. Hagia Sofia is timeless and not limited to religion. It belongs to history and humanity,” she posted.

According to Ankesh Ojha from India, the reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque is “a declaration that Turkey is no longer secular”.

Some others compared the development with other local and international issues to make their arguments.

Joseph Lumbard, based in Doha, Qatar, said people making a big discussion out of Hagia Sophia’s status needed to check their priorities, making a reference to Uighur Muslims in China.

“If you are more worried about the fate of the #hagiasofia than of the 3 million Uiyghur Muslims who have been imprisoned and whose mosques are in the process of being destroyed by the Chinese government, you may need to check you priorities,” he wrote in a tweet, referring to the suppressed Muslim minority in China.

Haseeb Ahmed Barlas, who is based in Islamabad, Pakistan according to his social media account, referred in his tweet to an Indian mosque demolished in the 1990s, which had been a source of conflict between the Hindu and Muslim communities for a long time.

“Many Muslim Liberals are criticising Erdogan because of this [conversion of Hagia Sophia]. Where were those liberals, when Hindus were demolishing Babri Masjid?” he tweeted.

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CTV National News: Social media giants sued – CTV News

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CTV National News: Social media giants sued  CTV News

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India’s media – captured and censored

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Across almost every form of media in India – social, broadcast and print – Narendra Modi and the BJP hold sway.

With India amid a national election campaign, its news media is in sharp focus. Until recently it was believed that the sheer diversity of outlets ensured a range of perspectives, but now, India’s mainstream media has largely been co-opted by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just how did the media in India get to this point and what does it mean for the upcoming elections?

Featuring:

Ravish Kumar – Former Host, NDTV
Shashi Shekhar Vempati – Former CEO, Prasar Bharati
Pramod Raman – Chief Editor, MediaOne
Amy Kazmin – Former South Asia Bureau Chief, Financial Times
Meena Kotwal – Founder, The Mooknayak

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Social media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards

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Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against multiple social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.

The school boards, including three in the Greater Toronto Area, have launched lawsuits seeking $4.5 billion in damages against Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta, the owner of both Facebook and Instagram, for creating products that they allege negligently interfere with student learning and have caused “widespread disruption to the education system.”

But at an unrelated news conference in Ottawa on Friday, Ford said that he “disagrees” with the legal action and worries it could take the focus away from “the core values of education.”

“Let’s focus on math, reading and writing. That is what we need to do, put all the resources into the kids,” he said. “What are they spending lawyers fees to go after these massive companies that have endless cash to fight this? Let’s focus on the kids, not this other nonsense that they are looking to fight in court.”

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Four separate but similar statements of claim were filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of JusticSocial media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, a rapid escalation of aggression, and mental health challenges,” Colleen Russell-Rawlins, the director of education with the Toronto District School Board, said in a news release issued Thursday.

“It is imperative that we take steps to ensure the well-being of our youth. We are calling for measures to be implemented to mitigate these harms and prioritize the mental health and academic success of our future generation.”

The school boards are represented by Toronto-based law firm Neinstein LLP and the news release states that school boards “will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached.”

These lawsuits come as hundreds of school districts in the United States file similar suits.

“A strong education system is the foundation of our society and our community. Social media products and the changes in behaviour, judgement and attention that they cause pose a threat to that system and to the student population our schools serve,” Duncan Embury, the head of litigation at Neinstein LLP, said in the new release.

“We are proud to support our schools and students in this litigation with the goal of holding social media giants accountable and creating meaningful change.”

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