Freedom Index
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Contents
In the online world, a battle is taking place. Governments around the world are wrestling for control of the internet. Some want simply to protect their sovereignty, but others are actively trying to suppress dissent.
In this issue, James Ball considers how moves to regulate online platforms could cause more problems than they solve.
Former Belsat journalist Yahuen Merkis details the horrific process of going from reporter to jailed political prisoner in his home country.
Emma Briant outlines the hypocrisy at the heart of the Trump administration. She has joined the legal fight back to stop the US government from deporting the professionals and researchers who write about social media companies and how they work.
Enjoy the magazine. It has reports and discussions from around the world about how censorship works today, and about how brave artists continue to struggle to explain the complexity of the world.
Up Front
DEATH BY A THOUSAND BOTS: SALLY GIMSON
Bots control the web, but who controls the bots?
THE INDEX: MARK STIMPSON
The latest free expression news
Features
THE FIGHT AGAINST A CULTURAL TAKEOVER IN FRANCE: EMILY BOYLE
Vincent Bolloré’s battle for control over France’s media
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MADE: VIKTÓRIA SEDÜLT
Life in Hungary after Orbán
LIKE FATHER LIKE DAUGHTER: AKBAR NOTEZAI
Mahrang Baloch talks books
WELCOME TO THE BANNED BOOKS MUSEUM: KATIE DANCEY-DOWNS
A curiosity in Tallinn
THEY TRIED TO BREAK ME BUT IT DIDN’T WORK: YAUHEN MERKIS
Three years in prison but still
holding out hope for Belarus
THE NHS CONSULTANT, THE PRIVATE CONSULTANCY AND THE SLAPP: TOMMY GREENE
Public-interest journalism shouldn’t be shut down
A DOG COLLAR MUSEUM?: HOLLY BREWER
Museums owe us a duty of care
Special Report
A BIG TECH WAR WE COULD ALL LOSE: JAMES BALL
Regulating social media holds hidden threats
INDIA’S NEW DIGITAL CENSORSHIP ECOSYSTEM: VIREN NAIDU
A new front in the war on free expression
THE RAPID RISE OF SLOPAGANDA: MACKENZIE ARGENT
Misinformation and the internet
DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY IS THE NEW BATTLEFIELD: VICTORIA BAINES
Escaping US tech hegemony
THE BRUTAL TRUTH: CONNOR O’BRIEN
LiveLeak and life in the pre-censorship internet
THE GREAT FIREWALL OF CHINA: MARK STIMPSON
GreatFire burrows a tunnel under China’s internet blockade
Comment
ELEVATING THE DEBATE ABOUT FREE SPEECH: AKIN AJAYI
A new book suggests a different approach to understanding free speech rights
TRUMP TRIES TO MUZZLE FREE SPEECH TO PROTECT SOCIAL MEDIA GIANTS: EMMA BRIANT
Social media companies are a legitimate area of academic research
STAYING FOR THE FIGHT: SALIL TRIPATHI
A tribute to Václav Havel
DON’T LET FACTS GET IN THE WAY OF
A LEGAL ARGUMENT: STEPHEN YOUNG, HARRY HOBBS
Gobbledegook undermines
the authority of the law
A LAST CHAPTER FOR HONG KONG’S
“YELLOW” BOOKSHOPS: JEMIMAH STEINFELD
Another loss for independent thinking – and reading
“MAYA ANGELOU IS KIND OF MY SHAKESPEARE”: BIM ADEWUNMI
Angelou embodied myriad experiences of blackness
Culture
PROTECTION OR CENSORSHIP: BÄNOO ZAN
Iranian poets silenced by editorial timidity
A HUMAN FACE TO THE FACELESS: KAYA GENÇ
On being a social media censor
CHEKHOV IN AMERICA – HOPE, AND A WARNING: SALIL TRIPATHI
A new play sets The Seagull as a meditation on our uncertain times
READING BETWEEN THE LINES: JAN FOX
Poetry as medicine for the spirit
WOMEN OF HISTORY: BETTANY HUGHES
Women in society, across time
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