Spanish-Speaking Twittersphere Fumes Over Announcement

Written by Juan Arellano and Translated by L. Finch

Twitter’s announcement ^[1], published on January 26, 2012, which revealed that due to its international growth it will restrict ^[2] certain user content according to the laws of each individual country, caused an immediate and overwhelmingly negative reaction in the Spanish-speaking Twittersphere.

The hashtags #CensuramestaTwitter ^[3] and #TwitterCensored ^[4] were used on a massive scale by Twitter users to show their disagreement with the website’s decision, and #CensuramestaTwitter ^[3] became a trending topic in various countries in the region ^[5] as well as in other parts of the world.

Just as the hashtags indicate, the first reaction to Twitter’s decision was to cry censorship. One of the first bloggers to argue the point was Colombian blogger Víctor Solano, who characterized the day as “one of the saddest days in the history of social networking freedom,” and among other things said ^[6] [es]:

Así las cosas, si esto hubiese ocurrido hace un año, no sabemos cómo habría sido el desarrollo de la ‘Primavera árabe’, el fenómeno que sacudió gobiernos como los de Túnez, gracias a la participación muy activa de los ciudadanos inconformes a través de las redes sociales. Con esta decisión, muchas de las ideas se convierten potencialmente en subversivas si llegan a incomodar a cualquier gobierno, sin que este tenga que ser necesariamente una dictadura.

Translation:

As things are, if this had happened a year ago, we don’t know if there would have been an “Arab Spring” uprising, the phenomenon that toppled governments such as Tunisia’s, thanks to the very active participation of dissatisfied citizens on social networks. With this decision, many ideas potentially become subversive if they perturb whichever government, and without ideas we are inevitably left with a dictatorship.

Afterwards he reflected on how this new measure would be implemented:

Cuando un tweet alerte que hay una irregularidad en el día de las elecciones en un país que esté regentado por un gobierno que lleve, digamos, ocho años en el poder, ¿El gobierno podría solicitar que lo borre porque altera la tranquilidad y el orden? Casos como este y muchos más manipulan la puerta giratoria entre la libertad y la represión a la perseguida libertad de expresión.

Translation:

When a tweet alerts the public that there is some irregularity during elections in a country that is run by a government that has held power for, let’s say, eight years, could the government ask for the Tweet to be erased because it could disturb peace and order? Cases such as this and many more manipulate the revolving door between freedom and repression of that freedom of expression which we pursue.

From Spain, we hear from Rodaimos, who writes for the blog Mi mar conceptual, apart from aggregating other microblogging alternatives such as StatusNet ^[8] [en] and the own well-known platform, identi.ca ^[9] [en],speculated ^[10] [es]:

No hace falta decir, que esto atenta no solo contra la libertad de expresión, sino también contra la libertad de prensa. Además, nos deja ante una inquietante pregunta: Si Twitter es capaz de hacer esto públicamente, ¿Qué es lo que hará a escondidas? ¿Pasará Twitter un listado de infractores a las autoridades de cada país?

Translation:

It is obvious that this attacks not only freedom of expression, but also freedom of the press. Furthermore, this leaves us with a disquieting question: If Twitter is capable of doing this publicly, what will it do privately? Will Twitter hand over a list of offenders to the authorities in each country?

On the Spanish technology website Bitelia, JJ Velasco commented ^[11] [es] along the same lines:

Creo que la nota de Twitter es muy desafortunada ya que intentar vestir la censura como una herramienta para cumplir la legislación francesa o alemana es una excusa muy pobre que apenas se sostiene pero, por muchas vueltas que se le de, la censura seguirá siendo censura y, con este anuncio, Twitter le brinda a muchos gobiernos la posibilidad de ejercer dicha censura a nivel local. Un movimiento bastante triste.

Translation:

I believe that Twitter’s note is very unfortunate because it intends to dress up censorship as a tool to comply with French legislation or German legislation. It’s a very poor excuse that hardly holds up but, despite its many slights of hand, censorship continues to be censorship and, with this announcement, Twitter presents many governments with the possibility of exercising said censorship on a local level. Such a sad move.

From Mexico, Sophiegadget of SweetieGeeks.com gave ^[12] [es] a practical example of what could potentially happen with Twitter’s actions:

En México, ¿Qué pasa si al gobierno se le ocurre que este es un país seguro, que no hay balaceras ni narcotráfico? ¿Twitter censuraría todos los tweets con este tipo de contenido? Si así fuera, comenzaríamos a vivir en la mentira, y no solo en un país de mentiras, en un mundo de mentiras

Translation:

In Mexico, what happens if the government decides that this is a safe country, that there are no shootings or drug trafficking? Would Twitter censor all the Tweets on this topic? If this were so, we would begin to live a lie, and not only in a country of lies, but in a world of lies.

Twitter, for its part, has declared ^[13] [es] through a spokesperson that “our announcement has nothing to do with censorship,” adding that the announcement “absolutely does not imply any type of change” in its policy or philosophy on freedom of expression. Eduardo Arcos of Ecuador agreed with Twitter’s declarations, and said on ALT1040 that “Twitter will not censor ^[14]” [es]:

Twitter ha eliminado contenido y hasta eliminado cuentas desde hace años. No es nada nuevo. Es normal, y además ¡es necesario! ¿Les parece bien que si un gobierno hace una demanda formal a Twitter para que se retire contenido publicado por una persona a páginas de pornografía infantil, estas no se eliminen? La libertad de expresión no solo es un derecho, es una responsabilidad y Twitter como plataforma tiene que mantener esos principios, tanto ofreciendo el servicio sin costo a cualquier persona que desee usarla para expresarse como también ejerciendo control hacia aquellos que intentan aprovecharse para cometer delitos.

Translation:

Twitter has eliminated content and even eliminated accounts for years. This is nothing new. It’s normal, and besides it’s necessary! Do you think it’s OK that if a government formally demands that Twitter remove content published by someone to child pornography websites, they shouldn’t take it down? Freedom of expression is not only a right, it’s a responsibility and Twitter as a platform has to maintain these principles, so that it is both offering its service for free to whoever wants to use it to express themselves as well as exercising control over those that intend to take advantage of its service to commit crimes.

To this he added later:

Por último Twitter busca hacer todo esto de la forma más transparente posible y junto a Chilling Effects ha creado una sección ^[15] donde detallará cada caso en que un gobierno pida que se censure un contenido particular. De tal forma que nosotros sepamos exactamente quien y por qué pide que un contenido no se muestre. […] Entonces tranquilos, nadie los está censurando y el poder de publicar en esta plataforma no está en peligro.

Translation:

Finally, Twitter is looking to do all this in the most transparent way possible and together with Chilling Effects has created a section ^[15] [en] where each case in which a government asks that they censor particular content is detailed. In this way, we can know exactly who and for what reason a government asks that content not be shown. […] So calm down, no one is censoring content and the power of publishing on this platform is not in danger.

Claudio Ruiz, of Chile, on FayerWayer agreed with this opinion, reflecting that ^[16] [es]:

Localmente; y 2) bajo las reglas e

Antes de hablar de censura y abuso en los nuevos términos de uso hay que tomar en cuenta que hoy se bajan contenidos de redes sociales. Todos los días. Y todos lo hacen, algunos con mayor transparencia (Twitter, Google), otros con menos (Facebook). Y esto, por lo demás, es razonable que ocurra. Es un derecho vinculado a la protección de la privacidad poder solicitar la bajada de ciertos contenido bajo las circunstancias que la ley local establezca para la protección de cierta información personal. Esto no va a cambiar con las nuevas políticas. La diferencia entre lo que sucede hoy y las nuevas políticas es que ahora dicho bloqueo sólo tendrá efectos locales. De censura poco puede haber si las bajadas de contenido se hacen stablecidas en las leyes locales y no de manera arbitraria.

Translation:

Before talking about censorship and abuse in these new terms of use, one has to take into account that social networking content is already taken down today. Everyday. And all of them do it, some with more transparency (Twitter, Google) than others (Facebook). And this, otherwise, is a reasonable thing. It’s a right linked to the protection of privacy, to be able to ask that certain content be taken down under circumstances established by local law to protect certain personal information. This is not going to change with the new policy. The difference between what happens today and the new policy is that this said blocking of content will now only have local effects. It can hardly be censorship if the taking down of content is down 1) locally; and 2) under the rules established within local laws and not in an arbitrary way.

However, this is not the opinion of the majority and a TwitterBlackout was organized on Jan. 28, in which users stayed away from the platform for the entire day. The Twitter activity under the hashtags #TwitterBlackout^[17] and #j28 ^[18] were going strong, and #TwitterBlackout ^[17] became a Trending Topic worldwide. Manuel Moreno on Trecebits pointed out: ^[19] [es]

Twitter ha conseguido enfadar a sus usuarios. A lo grande. Su anuncio de que ha desarrollado un sistema que permitirá eliminar los mensajes de los usuarios que no cumplan con la legalidad en algunos países ha sido considerado por muchos como censura. […] Veremos si mañana desciende el número de tweets en protesta por la medida… y si Twitter escucha a sus usuarios esta vez.

Translation:

Twitter has succeeded in angering its users. On a large scale. Many have considered is announcement that it has developed a system that allows for the elimination of user messages that don’t comply with the law in some countries paramount to censorship. […] We will see tomorrow if the number of Tweets in protest on the site go down… and if Twitter listens to its users this time.

Finally, Enzo Abbagliati, on El Quinto Poder in Childe, reflected ^[20] [es] on the motivations for protest:

Los ciudadanos debemos exigirles a nuestros estados una defensa sin ambigüedades del estándar democrático. Y ese estándar incluye en su base la libertad de expresión. Pero en el mundo en red, ese estándar también debemos exigírselo a las empresas de la red, a esas que bajo las lógicas de la Sociedad de la Información, hacen de nosotros y nuestros contenidos, la fuente de su prosperidad. Twitter debe cumplir las leyes que rigen en todos los países donde opera o espera funcionar. Eso está fuera de toda duda, pero si para aumentar su penetración mundial cierra los ojos a las restricciones de libertad de expresión que en muchos casos existen, en lo personal no me gusta. Si lo aceptamos, estaríamos dando por perdida la batalla que entre libertad y control está teniendo lugar por estos días en las redes.

Translation:

Citizens should demand that their states take an unambiguous defense of the democratic standard. And that standard includes in its foundation freedom of expression. But in the online world, that standard also should be demanded of the networking companies, of those that under the logic of an information society, find in us and our content the source of their prosperity. Twitter should comply with the governing laws in all the countries where it operates and hopes to function. That is without a doubt, but if to increase its worldwide proliferation it closes its eyes to restrictions on freedom of expression that in many cases exist, personally I don’t like this. If we accept this, we would be treating the battle between freedom and control, which is happening these days on social networking sites, as already lost.

Other articles on the topic:

Technosociology – Why Twitter’s new policy is helpful for free-speech advocates ^[21]
Global Voices Advocacy – What Does Twitter’s Country-by-Country Takedown System Mean for Freedom of Expression? ^[22]
Mashable – Relax: Twitter’s New Censorship Policy Is Actually Good for Activists ^[23]
Thenextweb – Worried about possible restrictions on Twitter? Here’s how to get around them. ^[24]
HuffingtonPost – Twitter Censorship Policy Ignites Global Outrage ^[25]