LONDON: Ofcom, the British broadcasting regulator, has been accused of giving “global credibility” to Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language news channel.
In a letter to the media watchdog, the UK-based ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain complained about Al Jazeera’s Arabic service, which is available in millions of homes across the country.
They argued that by sanctioning Al Jazeera’s English-language service, Ofcom was granting “global credibility” to its Arabic-language channel, which they said was “undoubtedly sympathetic” toward Daesh, according to a report in The Times newspaper.
The letter reportedly argued that Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel benefits from Al Jazeera English’s credibility by association, despite the fact that Al Jazeera Arabic is not licensed or currently regulated in the UK. The letter highlighted that Daesh was referred to as an “organization” rather than a terrorist group by the channel.
Ofcom said there was little it could do, as the Arabic channel was not licensed in the UK, but they had passed on the letter to the relevant authority in Italy, where the channel does hold a license.
“Al Jazeera Arabic is not licensed in the UK, so is not subject to our broadcasting rules,” an Ofcom spokesperson told Arab News.
“But we have passed this letter of complaint to the media regulator in Italy, where the channel holds a license, for urgent consideration.”
The Anti-Terror Quartet (ATQ) — comprising Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE — broke off diplomatic relations with Qatar in June, with the closure of Al Jazeera being one of the ATQ’s 13 demands of Doha in the days immediately after the start of the rift.
Al Jazeera did not respond to a request for comment.
British media watchdog accused of giving Al Jazeera ‘global credibility’
British media watchdog accused of giving Al Jazeera ‘global credibility’
Mark Zuckerberg set to testify in watershed social media trial
- The plaintiff, a now 20-year-old woman, is seeking to hold social media companies responsible for harms to children who use their platforms
- Zuckerberg’s testimony comes a week after the testimony of Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta’s Instagram
LOS ANGELES: Mark Zuckerberg will testify in an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta’s platforms deliberately addict and harm children.
Meta’s CEO is expected to answer tough questions on Wednesday from attorneys representing a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, who claims her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.
Zuckerberg has testified in other trials and answered questions from Congress about youth safety on Meta’s platforms, and he apologized to families at that hearing whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were because of social media. This trial, though, marks the first time Zuckerberg will answer similar questions in front of a jury. and, again, bereaved parents are expected to be in the limited courtroom seats available to the public.
The case, along with two others, has been selected as a bellwether trial, meaning its outcome could impact how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out.
A Meta spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with the allegations in the lawsuit and said they are “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”
One of Meta’s attorneys, Paul Schmidt, said in his opening statement that the company is not disputing that KGM experienced mental health struggles, but rather that Instagram played a substantial factor in those struggles. He pointed to medical records that showed a turbulent home life, and both he and an attorney representing YouTube argue she turned to their platforms as a coping mechanism or a means of escaping her mental health struggles.
Zuckerberg’s testimony comes a week after that of Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta’s Instagram, who said in the courtroom that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms. Mosseri maintained that Instagram works hard to protect young people using the service, and said it’s “not good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people’s well-being.”
Much of Mosseri’s questioning from the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, centered on cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people’s appearance — a topic that Lanier is sure to revisit with Zuckerberg. He is also expected to face questions about Instagram’s algorithm, the infinite nature of Meta’ feeds and other features the plaintiffs argue are designed to get users hooked.
Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico that began last week.
