Reflecting on 30 years since South Africa's first democratic elections, there's progress to observe this Freedom Day, yet poverty, inequality, and corruption persists. As we commemorate, let's commit to working towards true dignity, equality, and freedom for all. #FreedomDaySA

Did you know? 81% of South Africa's Grade 4s cannot read for meaning.

Join the #RightToRead campaign to prioritise #literacy through legislation.

Follow for updates & visit the Right To Read website for more information: righttoread.org.za
#ReadRight

#WorldBookandCopyrightDay is not just about celebrating books, it's about ensuring every child has access & can read for meaning. The Right to Read calls for reading regulations that guarantee a minimum number of books for every learner. Then we can celebrate.
#ReadRight

Political microtargeting: Are politicians manipulating your feeds? The topic of our upcoming Legal Bytes episode on IG live is going to be an interesting one! Let us know your questions in the comments, or if there are any points on the topic you’d like to be discussed.

Ready for another ‘Legal Bytes with the LRC’? This Wednesday, we’ll discuss “Political microtargeting: Are politicians manipulating your feeds?”. Join the conversation and share your thoughts.

Follow ➡️ instagram.com/lrcsouthafrica/

For episode 2 of 'Legal Bytes with the LRC', we’ll discuss “Political microtargeting: Are politicians manipulating your feeds?”. We're coming to you live from Ghana! Tune in on Wednesday, 24 April at 1 pm for an interesting conversation.
Follow ➡️ instagram.com/lrcsouthafrica/

YouTube must do better!

Our recent investigation with Global Witness reveals that YouTube is approving ads with disinformation which can fuel chaos as India goes to the polls.

#IndiaElections2024
accessnow.org/press-release/…

🚨Earlier today, 11 civil society organisations wrote to the Election Commission of India, expressing their collective concerns over the integrity of the #Elections2024 & urging them to uphold the principles of free & fair elections against the many challenges it faces. 1/7
internetfreedom.in/civil-society-…

A loophole in Meta's policies on advertiser disclaimer is allowing an infestation of surrogate advertisements on its platforms. Surrogate ads targeting BJP opponents now dominate FB's political ads.

boomlive.in/news/bjp-congr…

THREAD : Investigating the ruling party BJP's propaganda factory. A network of 23 websites hosted on same IP Address & linked facebook pages working as pseudo-entities pushing propaganda Ads by spending crores of money on Facebook, attacking non-BJP parties & leaders. +

Read the English version of the detailed article. altnews.in/meta-allowed-a…

In response to our inquiries, a Meta spokesperson informed us that they reviewed the content flagged by Alt News found it to be in violation of Meta’s standards, and took action accordingly. Now these contents have been removed by Meta. +

In an email to Meta, we inquired why their moderation system failed in this case. Furthermore, we asked them how they plan to thwart attempts to weaponize their platforms during this election season and what actions would be taken against pages violating Meta platform rules. +

It is pertinent for platforms like Meta to show their commitment towards ensuring a responsible and safe online space by taking prompt action against content that violates their community standards. +

exemplifying their failure during this sensitive, high-stakes election period.

Meta's negligence in enforcing its policies reaffirms the importance of accountability by platforms. As elections approach, the role of digital governance is becoming increasingly important. +

This ad raises serious questions about Meta’s ability to effectively enforce its policies. With over 30 lakh views, the continued presence of these controversial ads on the platform highlights the disparity between Meta’s policy and practice +

Upon checking the Meta ad library, we found that one of these ads running on Instagram was flagged and removed by Meta on 9 March. At the same time, another version of the same ad continued to run on Instagram till 16 March, garnering over 10 lakh 45 thousand views. +

Despite the clear violation of Meta's advertising standards, two versions of this advertisement ran uninterrupted on Facebook from 8 March to 15 March, garnering more than 20 lakh views. +

Meta's policies explicitly prohibit content that glorifies violence. The Meta advertising standard states that advertisements must not contain shocking, sensational, excessively violent content or graphic crime scenes. (Due to the excessive violence, the video has been blurred) +

to the Basirhat court, with the text 'Criminal in West Bengal'. The advertisement glorifies violence, saying that Shahjahan should get the same treatment as Atiq Ahmed. +