Monthly Archives: January 2022

It has become an axiom in recent years that the Left has a problem with free speech. The practice of deplatforming, whereby an individual is denied a platform to express their beliefs, has metastasised into an all-encompassing cancel culture. No one, no matter how powerful, influential or well-connected, is safe from the censorious mobs on social media. If you speak out against left-wing dogma, you risk losing your platform, maybe even your career. Thank god for the Right, the champions of free speech. But are they, really?

The above assumption is held by an increasing number of otherwise sane people today. Yes, certain elements of the Left have moved a long way from the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s. True, university campuses particularly in the States have witnessed some pretty deranged outbreaks of mass hysteria, particularly amongst our blue-haired brothers and sisters. Some young people are probably too easily offended and no, speech, by default, is not violence. That said, out of all the people that claim to have been cancelled, how many actually have?

I cant think of very many. Its probably about time to let Louis C.K. back on Netflix, but who thinks R. Kelly or Harvey Weinstein deserve a second chance? What I can think of is a whole host of very public figures who like nothing better than to moan on their massive platforms about how theyve been censored by the woke Left. Andrew Neil tried to blame woke-warriors for the lack of advertising on his unwatched TV channel, GB News, whilst actor Laurence Fox regularly gets booked on major TV shows to, quite unironically, tell us all about how hes been cancelled.

As someone very much on the left, I have bemoaned the censorious tendencies of some of our comrades as much as anyone. However, there is simply no room on this bandwagon for hypocrites. This being the case, Im afraid a lot of my conservative friends are going to be making the trip on foot. If you think the Right is a bastion of free speech, Ive got an ice wall to sell you.

Whilst sections of the Left have been making a noisy but generally inconsequential nuisance of themselves outside the Oxford Union, conservatives in Britain and America have been legislating away our rights to free speech. The new crime bill gives the police the ability to arbitrarily deem a protest too loud and shut it down. If a protest disrupts the activities of an organisation or, get this, has an impact on persons in the vicinity, then the riot police can rock up and roll in. These are the kinds of reasons that authoritarian regimes give for arresting protestors.

Fresh from cancelling a B-list celebrity, it was the Left that tried to fight this bill. The same cannot be said of the free speech warriors on the right. They were also conspicuously silent when the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, signed a law guaranteeing legal protections for people that kill protestors with their vehicle. Being called mean names on Twitter definitely sucks, but I personally think that being hit with a car for expressing your opinion is worse. What can I say? Im old school like that.

Lets take another example, and try to remember whether any of our favourite free speech warriors, be it Sam Harris, Dave Rubin, Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Douglas Murray, or a single Republican representative, has ever called it out. In 27 US states, there are now laws that penalise individuals for supporting the Boycott, Disinvest, and Sanction movement (BDS). This is a movement that calls for a boycott of Israel and the occupied territories. In many of these states, a person cannot get a government job unless they sign a document stipulating that they will not engage in boycott activity. This includes sharing BDS material on social media, even if it pertains to illegal settlements. As such, 250 million Americans live in states where they can be denied a job for holding an opinion shared by the UN.

This is what a real threat to freedom of expression looks like. Criminalised demonstrations; carte blanche to kill protestors; the denial of a government job for holding a mainstream view. In every instance, these anti-speech laws are coming not from the Left, but from the Right. Cancel culture and political correctness can be annoying, and there are sections of the Left with an unhealthy attitude to freedom of expression. However, there simply is no equivalence between calling for Midget Gems to be renamed Mini Gems, and criminalising our fundamental human rights.

Whilst its okay to be worried by both cancel culture and anti-free speech laws, one is inarguably more repressive than the other. If you still think that its cancel culture, then youre more interested in the culture war than you are in fighting for freedom of speech.

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It's Not the Left we Should be Scrutinizing but the Right When it Comes to Killing Free Speech - Shout Out UK

Novak Djokovics father has declared his sons successful appeal against deportation from Australia a victory for human rights and free speech.

The tennis player is sceptical of vaccinations, and has not taken up the Covid-19 vaccine despite the overwhelming backing of the scientific community for its importance in fighting the pandemic.

The mens world No1 was detained at a Melbourne airport in the early hours of Thursday, where he was interrogated by the Australian Border Force. The country has strict regulations to prevent visitors who have not been vaccinated from entering.

Djokovic told the authorities he had adhered to requests by Tennis Australia and the Victoria government, who required proof that he had previously tested positive for Covid and that he had the requisite antibodies in his blood. However, his visa was revoked and was only reinstated on appeal after a lengthy hearing, when a judge found Djokovic had not been allowed enough time to prepare his argument when he arrived in Melbourne.

Later on Monday, Djokovic resumed training ahead of the Australian Open, and his family gave a passionate press conference in which they hailed the delivery of justice.

People of the world, thank you for your unconditional support, Djokovics father said. He fought for freedom of thoughts, freedom of speech. Its been very, very difficult for us, as for everyone in the world who is free-thinking. But he is extremely strong, a fantastic young man who aways tries to help, never to harm.

Obviously the fact he comes from small and impoverished country was not something big, powerful people liked. They thought they had God-given powers that this world is their world, and it is impossible that a young man from a small, poor country can be the best in their sport.

Srdan Djokovic said the authorities had taken away his sons human rights. The game that has been played over the past five or six days has been incredibly difficult for him and his family. He was met at the airport and he was not given any rights, they took away all his rights, his rights as a human being.

He refused to sign that [deportation] document because there was no reason for it. He had done nothing to contribute to that situation. They gave him no right to communicate with his lawyers, his family, his friends. He was alone with them for several hours, they even took his phone. Im not even going to mention what else happened.

Djokovic is now preparing for the tournament, which begins next week, although this may not yet be the end of the affair. A possible three-year ban from Australia still hangs over his head, given the potential for a discretionary call from the immigration minister to supersede the home affairs minister, who was included as part of the court case.

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Novak Djokovics visa appeal is a victory for human rights and free speech, father declares - The Independent

WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear another religious rights claim from a conservative Christian, this time to decide whether a former high school football coach had a free-speech right to kneel and lead postgame prayers at the 50-yard line.

The case of Joe Kennedy, a former coach from Bremerton, Wash., has bounced back and forth in the federal courts for six years, including two decisions from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and one earlier appeal to the Supreme Court.

And all the while, the two sides disagreed about whats at issue: Are his prayers a matter of private speech or are they about promoting religion on school grounds?

His case has attracted extra attention in conservative circles, and the justices said Friday they agreed to decide whether Kennedys rights were violated when school officials warned him against leading prayers on the football field.

His lawsuit has always concerned only whether a public-school employee has a constitutional right to engage in brief, quiet prayer by himself, former Solicitor Gen. Paul Clement said on Kennedys behalf. The religious expression of hundreds of thousands of teachers in the 9th Circuit is now on the verge of extinction, and the chilling effects elsewhere around the country are palpable.

The school district officials said they had no objection to Kennedy or other school employees praying privately at school, including in the locker room before or after games. They did object, however, when Kennedy drew a growing audience for his on-field prayers at the end of each game.

Football players and other students rushed to midfield to join him.

They also objected to what one court described as the coachs media blitz, in which he took the dispute to local TV stations.

Kennedy was an assistant coach on a yearly contract, and he was suspended when he refused to follow the districts warning against holding the on-field prayers. He was not rehired for the next year and later filed suit alleging a violation of his 1st Amendment rights to the freedom of speech and free exercise of religion.

The dispute split the 9th Circuit Court. In its latest decision, Judge Milan Smith said, Kennedy spoke as a public employee when he kneeled and prayed on the 50-yard line immediately after games while in view of students and parents. In the past, judges have said schools may regulate or restrict what public employees say on the job, even while they are free to speak as they wish on their own time.

But 11 judges from the 9th Circuit dissented from this ruling, setting the stage for the appeal to the high court. The justices will hear arguments in the case, Kennedy vs. Bremerton School District, in the spring and issue a ruling by the end of June.

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Supreme Court will hear the case of religious football coach - Los Angeles Times

Liz Tovar, Executive Officer and Associate Vice President,Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Happy New Year, and welcome back to campus! While it is cold outside, we are excited to see everyone back on campus to begin the spring semester. My hope is everyone had a safe and enjoyable winter break.

Today we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. as we serve our community and strive to make it a better place. While we still have work to do, I am encouraged by the strides we have gained and can build upon. This week theMartin Luther King Jr. Celebration of Human Rightswill take place across campus, and we encourage everyone to check out these events. DDEI partners with Johnson County and the Division of Student Life in this effort, and we look forward to your participation!

This week is alsoUnity Week 2022. We mark this week to celebrate our institutions people and accomplishments in DEI while also looking forward to growing in the coming year.

Our colleges, units, and departments across campus will tell the stories of how they have grown in DEI since last January. You can see these stories on their social media feeds and our divisions Unity webpage. I encourage you to use#IowaUnity2022to show how you have grown over the past year.

One way we show our continued commitment to unity is in our battle with COVID-19. Our in-person learning is critical to our success, but we need to be safe. Please, be respectful of your neighbors, wear a mask, get tested if you feel symptoms, and self-report. The universitiesCOVID-19 websitewill continue to post updates. We really are all in this together, and we need to take care of one another.

I have spoken many times about how critical it is to respect each other. We dont need to agree with our neighbors. We need to respect different opinions, listen to understand each other, and respect beliefs differing from our own. It is our right through freedom of speech and expression to hold tight to our ideas, but it is also about being civil to each other in challenging conversations.

As we begin this new semester and strive for success, it is essential to focus on mutual respect for and to listen to understand each other. We have come so far in the past year, but we need to be vigilant and continue to work on ourselves to be our best selves.

I am always available to talk. Please reach out to me atelizabeth-tovar@uiowa.eduanytime. Have a great start to the semester, and as always

Go Hawks!

Liz TovarExecutive Officer and Associate Vice PresidentDivision of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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January 2022 Unity Week Note from Liz | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In early January, The Wire published an expos on Tek Fog, an app allegedly used by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to manage its IT cells. The investigation immediately aroused the attention of the Indian public. For the first time, everyday Indians were given insight into the inner workings of a major-party IT cell, and were forced to confront the possibility that their everyday reality was shaped not by the Indian public but the whims of shadowy political operatives; that their own ruling party would seek to phish their phones with spyware for the purpose of sending party-line propaganda impersonating them to friends and family. Such serious allegations resemble those of an authoritarian dictatorship like the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and their 50 Cents Army (), than the worlds largest democracy.

I have no special insights on the details of Tek Fog, and was not involved in the technical investigation (my involvement was limited to advising the authors regarding potential backlash from Facebook and its associated organisations, which were strongly opposed to publication.) But the investigations findings rang true to me, based on my experience at Facebook in catching inauthentic accounts and state-sponsored IT cells before I became a whistleblower.

Also read: Tek Fog: An App With BJP Footprints for Cyber Troops to Automate Hate, Manipulate Trends

As a new employee barely out of graduate school with no training and minimal expertise, I caught two world governments (Honduras and Azerbaijan) red-handed. Both governments ran IT cells without even hiding their own involvement, to manipulate and deceive their own citizenry. I know what I found was the low-hanging fruit those who had no reason to hide, as no one had bothered to look for them before. Despite their claims of benevolence, Facebook feels no responsibility to protect Indian democracy, any more than Dow Chemical feels responsible for making amends to the people of Bhopal.

I first learned the term IT cell half a year after joining FB, when an Indian policy lead explained to me that their use was common in India especially among the BJP. In January 2020, when I found a pro-Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) IT cell manipulating voters for the then-upcoming Delhi elections, Facebook policy thought they understood what was going on. These guys are trying to imitate the BJP and beat them at their online game, I was informed.

While IT cells are now endemic in Indian politics across parties, I was repeatedly told by FBs own Indian leadership that the BJP were the primary innovators in this area; the company knew that the BJP had access to an organisation in broad strokes similar to The Wires report. As such, I was surprised most not by any of the individual findings, but by the fact that an insider had appeared to come forward.

Also read: Tek Fog: Morphing URLs to Make Real News Fake, Hijacking WhatsApp to Drive BJP Propaganda

Ive spoken at length about my experiences at Facebook in late 2019 and early 2020. In that time period, I found five networks of fake accounts across the Indian political spectrum: two pro-Congress, two pro-BJP, and the aforementioned pro-AAP cell in Delhi. While the company initially agreed to take all five networks down as clear violations of their rules and policies, they only took down four; the last was stalled indefinitely after it was discovered to be run by a sitting BJP member of the Lok Sabha (Facebook has changed their story multiple times while denying my veracity.) Later in 2020, FB India head Ankhi Das resigned after controversial decisions and statements favouring the BJP.

Democracy cannot function if the voices of the people are drowned out by a swarm of fictitious voices. Allowing a small group of shady insiders to overwhelm public spaces with fake personas is anathema to free speech and discourse just as stuffing ballot boxes with fictitious votes is anathema to fair elections. This is a matter of fairness and principle, not partisanship. Many Indians agree. The Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology voted unanimously to seek my testimony (pending approval by the Speaker), and Ive been interviewed by news outlets from NDTV to Republic TV a strong statement of nonpartisan agreement in these polarised times.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

While Facebook holds increasing influence over the state of public discourse in India, it has focused on the needs of Indian power players rather than the needs of the Indian people. At Facebook, the leaders deciding individual cases are the same as those charged with buttering up politicians a conflict of interest that would force any Indian judge to recuse herself. Social media has built a world where the influential and powerful enjoy relative impunity, while justice is reserved for the lowly. Such a paradigm reminds us of an infamous quote from Peruvian dictator scar R. Benavides: For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law. In corrupt dictatorships such as the PRC, lawlessness among officials is common a perk enjoyed by friends and families of the dictator. This is the society being built by Facebook in India as well.

Also read: Tek Fog in Action: Targeting Women Journalists, Pushing Communal Narrative on COVID, Delhi Violence

When Mahatma Gandhi began his satyagraha, it was ordinary Indians who joined him in protest to win Indias freedom and democracy. When Indira Gandhi ruled by decree during the Emergency, it was ordinary Indians across parties who came together in protest to restore democracy.

If public protests are the language of the dispossessed, one of the first moves by any autocrat is to restrict freedom of speech and assembly. This stifles protests because in the real world, theres no way for a single person to impersonate a crowd.

In the digital world, however, the opposite is true, so autocrats use a different strategy to push their agenda. Imagine a world where false supporters of the British Raj drowned out the real opponents, and India never gained her independence. A world where India remained under Emergency forever, as false supporters of the government drowned out the real voices. That is the risk of IT cells a world in which autocrats are empowered, the minority able to rule over a majority with far greater ease.

The ongoing IT cell arms race across parties is no more beneficial for the Indian people than the US-Soviet nuclear arms race was for the world. If Indias leaders cannot agree to end this madness, it will be up to the Indian people to stand up and call for sanity to return.

Photo credit: Liza Danz

Sophie Zhang became a whistleblower after spending two years and eight months at Facebook failing to fix the company from within. She personally caught two national governments using Facebook to manipulate their own citizenry, while also revealing concerning decisions made by Facebook regarding inauthenticity in Indian and US politics. Formerly a data scientist, she currently stays home to pet her cats.

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Tek Fog: Imagine a World Where False Supporters of the Emergency Drowned Out the Real Opponents - The Wire