The Arab Spring Censored My Internet

         Internet monitoring and censoring has become an issue for countries with massive amounts of online users, the combination of an autocratic government and a population with access to social media has proven problematic for ruling regimes; as the Internet begins to take over social interaction, the chances of an “Arab Spring” type turmoil becomes much more likely across the globe. Through online gathering, social media posting, and anti-government blogging, people overrule their government, eradicate politicians, and create instability across their countries. As the Arab spring continues to sweep through the Middle East, many western leaning countries: including Russia, China, and Turkey, begin to see the threat social media poses on their stable government. Whether it conveys a universal connectivity or supplies the public with a means of online controversy, 21^st century social media is a fickle and delicate phenomenon that must be monitored to an extent in order to avoid the otherwise imminent protests that occurred in Syria, Egypt, and Tunisia.

            It is no secret that western countries have been experimenting in the Internet monitoring business for years now, however it has only recently become one of the most talked about subjects on news networks across the globe. As a result of the Arab uprisings that crumbled long-ruling regimes in the Arab world, the United States, its western counterparts, and even Communist nations were forced to delve deeper into domestic observations. After the Arab Spring Middle Eastern countries were faced with the unyielding task of recreating a stable government, meanwhile current democracies realized that tightening their grasp on censorship policies was necessary to maintaining authority. Subsequently, Tunisia held democratic elections and began rewriting their constitution, and was compelled to proceed with caution when faced with the topic of Internet censorship. Since the Arab Spring, the role of online surveillance in a democracy has been drastically increasing, thus Tunisia has no “perfect” model to base the aforementioned section of their constitution on. “And they turn and look at the United States, they look at Europe, and censorship laws are proliferating around the democratic world. And there’s not sufficient discussion and consideration for how these laws are going to be abused.” (Mackinnon)

            However, while it may seem challenging it may be to find the ideal balance between happy Internet users and happy stable governments, China has developed an almost flawless system since the events that transpired in 2011. “Fear that the turmoil in the Middle East would incite further unrest in its own population, the Chinese government has expanded restrictions on online information and access to communication services, reported government propaganda in domestic news outlets, restricted the freedom of foreign journalists, and arrested dissidents with little or no cause." (Rizzo) As a result, when protests began to spread throughout Egypt, the Chinese government established a restraint on specific keyword searches for terms containing ‘Egypt’ or ‘Cairo’, as well as regulating news articles. For example, CNN reported on a front-page story in the Beijing Daily reading “Protests in the Middle East bring nothing but chaos and misery to their countries.” Protest have reportedly been on the rise in China, thus it comes as no shock that subsequent to the Arab Spring uprisings they made the decision to further their advances in Internet monitoring and censorship.

            Nonetheless, China’s censorship exceeds that of any other country, and has shown that authoritarian governments can evolve with the growing online world and can survive the Internet. China has an upwards of 500 million Internet users (worldbank) and the Chinese government has accepted the importance of the Internet both economically and culturally. Thus, they have established a method to filter out corrupted information from overseas without entirely banning online access much like other authoritarian counterparts have done in the past. What most refer to, as the Great Firewall of China, is actually a complex combination of blocking foreign sites and recreating domestic versions of these sites. “Most Chinese Internet users are using Chinese-language websites that are run by Chinese companies based in China, and those companies are all held responsible for everything their users are doing.” (Mackinnon) Thusly, these companies must hire departments of people to monitor these sites and censor anything the government may find to be opposing to Chinese law. According to an article from CNN, China has roughly two million people who are employed to monitor Internet activity, and who keep the Great Firewall of China standing.

            While China promptly enforced laws to tighten their governmental hold on social media, it was not the only country that took the Arab Spring as a prominent threat. As the Tunisian regime of Zine El-‘Abidine Ben ‘Ali came to a disastrous end, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said all governments should learn from the events that transpired in Tunisia. He then went on to explain how governments need to grow and develop with their society, rather than sitting back in a comfy chair while the country slowly consumes its self. (Katz) Although Russia is continuously associated with authoritarian ruling systems, throughout the entirety of the Arab Uprisings, it repeatedly sided with the west and promoted democracy in the Middle East. For instance, Medvedev, who once supported Mubarak, quickly stated the importance of a strong democracy in Egypt; however, once the protests forcefully struck Syria, Russia urged the U.N. to refrain from becoming militarily involved. (Katz) With a highly fluctuating support of democratic reconstruction, Russia urges to align itself with the soon to be ruling party, which considering its past of internet censorship and protests, seems to be the smartest strategy.

            Russia had more to disclose about the Arab Spring than just their position on democratic takeovers; in the 2012, people enjoying their daily routine of Internet browsing began to realize an inaccessibility of what use to be extremely popular webpages. With stern ideals regarding political justice and anti-government propaganda, the Internet had become one of the only places Russian citizens could converse in genuine political debates. However, Russian officials claim the new laws banning specific site content are strictly to protect children. “The child protection law, they say, builds a system for government officials to demand that companies selectively block individual postings, so that contentious material can be removed without resorting to a countrywide ban on, for example, Facebook or YouTube, which would reflect poorly on Russia’s image abroad and anger Internet users at home.”(Kramer) However, Opposing views claim that these new laws are opening a door to broaden Internet censorship in response to the events currently sweeping through the Middle East, and to monitor social media networks that have been used to protest Putin. For example, on December 6^th 2011, online uproar on Twitter and Facebook caused one of the largest opposition protests facing Russia in years, and after its dispersion threats of larger gatherings arose on Facebook (Carbonnel); with a description reading “we are many and we are strong.” Thus with the Arab Spring occurring only a few moths after Russia’s beginning protests, Putin and his council hid behind titles to protect children from the horrors of the internet, with intentions of expanding Internet censorship to halt political propaganda.

Russian Facebook Group

            In countries without mass resources of that equal to China, the Arab Spring has set no guidelines on what to avoid when in the midst of a protest. As history shows, autocratic leaders tend to limit Internet and cellular services in times of strife, however when the government of a country with 80 million people and an economy on the verge of technological modernization shutdown virtually all online accessibility, tempered citizens broke out in protest. Egypt shutdown nearly 90% of their Internet traffic in an effort to control online antigovernment protestors (Richtel), and with a large piece of freedom taken from Egyptians, Mubark’s imminent end was clear on the horizon. These extreme methods social control are currently escalating in Turkey and could potentially reach a widespread shutdown of Internet services. Over the past month, twitter has been used to fuel allegations on corruption in Erogan’s administration. As a result the Prime Minister placed a ban on twitter among Turkish services; with freedom of expression at stake, protests begin to arise on and off of twitter. Most recently, Prime Minister Erdogan saw a rising national security risk within various YouTube videos regarding Turkish military action in Syria, thus the worlds largest video sharing website was added to the blacklist angering the public. (Jones, CNN) Taking no warning from the events that crumbled a long-ruling government in Egypt, Turkey takes dangerous steps toward a rapid rise in anti social media ban protests.

CNN images

After looking at the success of China’s Internet monitoring practices keeping the public happy while restricting certain non-government friendly sites, the balance of online censorship and online social interactions flourishes; opposed to the more extreme methods of banning used by Russia and Turkey which anger the public and seem to cause more harm than good. After the Arab Spring toppled autocratic governments in the Middle East one at a time, nations learned that the Internet is a phenomenon not to be trifled with; in an article regarding the current bans in Russia, a commentator said, “Once it is out, you can't control what people know, or what they believe, with any success.”(Economist) With the future of Internet activity and social media at a crossroads in Turkey, and with a rise in aggravation as government services monitor and censor the daily activity of the public, the Arab Spring has, if anything, proved that bans on the Internet may not contain protests. While the world moves deeper into the online age, the sensitivity of Internet activity becomes an enormous key player in the rise and fall of any government. Anything can change if 140 characters or less.

Sources

Mackinnon, Rebecca. "Internet Censorship Affects Everybody": Rebecca MacKinnon on the Global Struggle for Online Freedom." Democracy Now! Democracy Now, 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.

Rizzo, Jenniffer. "China Spending Big Money to Avoid Arab Spring Fever." CNN Security Clearance RSS. CNN, 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.

Hunt, Katie, Katie Hunt Wrote, Reported From Hong Kong, and CY Xu Reported from Beijing. "China 'employs 2 Million to Police Internet'" CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.

Katz, Mark N. "Russia and the Arab Spring | Middle East Institute." Russia and the Arab Spring | Middle East Institute. Middle East Institute, 3 Apr. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Kramer, Andrew E. "Russians Selectively Blocking Internet." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Carbonnel, Alissa De. "Insight: Social Media Makes Anti-Putin Protests Snowball."Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 07 Dec. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Richtel, Matt. "Egypt Halts Most Internet and Cell Service, and Scale of Shutdown Surprises Experts." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Jones, Bryony, Laura Smith-Spark, Ivan Watson, and Gul Tuysuz. "Turkey's Twitter Ban Condemned -- Even by Nation's Own President." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Economist. "Lurk No More." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 16 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.