Disrupting the Debate – Committee to Protect Journalists

On July 10, 2016, Ecuadoran journalist Bernardo Abad tweeted that the former vice-president of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, had not paid income taxes for the year before. A week later, Abad received a message from Twitter saying his account had been blocked for violating its terms of service. Within 24 hours, at least five others’ accounts were temporarily suspended after they tweeted about Moreno’s taxes. By the end of the week, nine accounts had been temporarily suspended, according to the freedom of expression advocacy group Fundamedios. Twitter declined to comment on the suspensions. Free speech organizations have argued that Ecuador’s disappearing content and suspended accounts are the direct result of a government campaign to censor critical information. Read more>>

Share