” I don’t understand “, said Bullet’skan, the nickname of Skander Ben Hamda, an expert in the material of which the account of Facebook has been brutally ended by the company to Palo Alto. The case would pass for harmless if the measure had not been concerned, at the same time, several dozens of vips, including influential bloggers of the arab Spring in Tunisia : Haythem El Mekki, Bullet’skan… The last one had been arrested – he was only 16 and a half years – by the police of Ben Ali in early January 2011 when the revolution took over the dictatorship. He explained at the time that ” social networks have played a very large role in the tunisian revolution, they have allowed an entire community to help each other, they were encouraged by a huge outpouring of solidarity “. Since then, Facebook became the first media of Tunisia.
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12 million people, 7.3 million of accounts
There were 7.3 million accounts in 2019, as well as 4.1 million users of Messenger for 11.9 million people. Political communication is done on this network because the Tunisian people are addicted to. Haythem El Mekki, a journalist, a specialist in social networks to Mosaic FM, the largest private radio in the country in audience, explains the key role of Facebook : “half my work is nourished by the material published on this network : videos, official publications, statutes, policies…” a Lot of conversations with leaders via Messenger. El Mekki tells the story of the sequence : “Friday at 23 hours, I discovered that my account has been declared ineligible by Facebook and that it is a “final decision”. “He says that this case” is that there is no form of appeal, it is irretrievable “. The noise is organized on the competing networks, including Twitter. Of the first articles come out. The giant of Silicon Valley is not a familiar one in the transparency. And this, especially since the scandal of Cambridge Analytica, this company, which had used the personal data of 87 million users, Facebook to campaign on the basis of false information in favour of Brexit.
also Read Tunisia # Revolution : the Top 3 democratic gains
An algorithm madman or an attempt of censorship
Saturday evening, the public relations France Facebook asked for “links to the accounts in question” to be able ” to look more quickly for what it is.” And to add : “We are obviously happy to (the) do in order to understand from where can come the problem. “Sunday at 15 hours, no other form of explanation is coming. The weekend of Pentecost… most of The accounts have been reactivated at about 2 o’clock in the morning on Sunday – not all of them, the journalist Moez Bahr part of those who have not benefited from the sudden amnesty. The incident, that it is the work of an algorithm is crazy or a will most perfidious, shows to what extent Facebook has been able to make vital, indispensable. When the communication of the leaders of a country, the political class, goes through this channel, this gives tremendous power to the firm of Mark Zuckerberg. In Algeria, the police summons more and more internet users if they have published articles hostile to the regime in place. The answers to this bizarre case is now in the hands of the leaders in North Africa and the Middle East to Facebook.
* NOTE : the author of these lines has also had his account closed, and then reopened at 2 o’clock in the morning this Sunday.
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Facebook, first media in Tunisia Tunisia # Revolution : the Top 3 democratic gains
