JUBA: South Sudan authorities have lifted the temporary ban on Facebook and TikTok, which was imposed last week following the circulation of videos depicting the alleged killings of South Sudanese nationals in Sudan.
The graphic images, which sparked violent protests and retaliatory killings across the country, have been removed from the social media platforms, the National Communications Authority said in a Jan.27 letter to telecoms and Internet providers
“The rise of violence linked to social media content in South Sudan underscores the need for a balanced approach that addresses the root causes of online incitement while protecting the rights of the population,” Napoleon Adok Gai, the director of the National Communications Authority, said in the letter.
Rights groups blamed the Sudanese army and its allies for ethnically-targeted attacks on civilians in Sudan’s El Gezira state earlier this month, after they captured the state capital Wad Madani from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The Sudanese army condemned what it called “individual violations,” which were captured on video and shared widely on social media.
South Sudan lifts suspension of Facebook and TikTok
https://arab.news/jzyce
South Sudan lifts suspension of Facebook and TikTok
- Ban was imposed last week following the circulation of videos depicting the alleged killings of South Sudanese nationals in Sudan
China’s national security agency in Hong Kong summons international media representatives
HONG KONG: China’s national security agency in Hong Kong summoned international media representatives for a “regulatory talk” on Saturday, saying some had spread false information and smeared the government in recent reports on a deadly fire and upcoming legislative elections.
Senior journalists from several major outlets operating in the city, including AFP, were summoned to the meeting by the Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS), which was opened in 2020 following Beijing’s imposition of a wide-ranging national security law on the city.
Through the OSNS, Beijing’s security agents operate openly in Hong Kong, with powers to investigate and prosecute national security crimes.
“Recently, some foreign media reports on Hong Kong have disregarded facts, spread false information, distorted and smeared the government’s disaster relief and aftermath work, attacked and interfered with the Legislative Council election, (and) provoked social division and confrontation,” an OSNS statement posted online shortly after the meeting said.
At the meeting, an official who did not give his name read out a similar statement to media representatives.
He did not give specific examples of coverage that the OSNS had taken issue with, and did not take questions.
The online OSNS statement urged journalists to “not cross the legal red line.”
“The Office will not tolerate the actions of all anti-China and trouble-making elements in Hong Kong, and ‘don’t say we didn’t warn you’,” it read.
For the past week and a half, news coverage in Hong Kong has been dominated by a deadly blaze on a residential estate which killed at least 159 people.
Authorities have warned against crimes that “exploit the tragedy” and have reportedly arrested at least three people for sedition in the fire’s aftermath.
Dissent in Hong Kong has been all but quashed since Beijing brought in the national security law, after huge and sometimes violent protests in 2019.
Hong Kong’s electoral system was revamped in 2021 to ensure that only “patriots” could hold office, and the upcoming poll on Sunday will select a second batch of lawmakers under those rules.
