Dear Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Pichai,
In the past few years, you have pioneered important transparency tools to help your platform users understand, learn about and contextualise the political advertising they see. We agree that advertiser verification processes and ad repositories are key safeguards against online manipulation and misinformation. However, we are saddened to observe that these benefits have not been equally distributed among your global user base.
Each platform operates fluctuating and often widely differing transparency standards for different countries. While some users benefit from seeing political advertising in an ad repository, others do not. Where some users are offered detailed information about a political ad, others are not. There are no legitimate or otherwise publicly disclosed reasons justifying this difference in treatment.
Despite pressure at home and from the international community, truth and justice have not yet been achieved.
Journalist Prageeth disappeared on Jan. 24, 2010, in Colombo, two days before the presidential election in which he was campaigning against former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. For 11 years, I have walked everywhere to seek justice. I ran to find not only my husband but also other disappeared people, said Sandya at the N.M Perera Center in Borella on Jan. 25. My effort is to find those who seek justice in this country and for the building of a better society.
Sandya, who won the US International Women of Courage Award in 2017, created a website (ekneligodaforum.org) to help deliver justice for Sri Lanka s disappeared. She urges journalists and others to use the website to find information on Prageeth and others still missing.
‘We see a different media culture’
In recent times, we see a different media culture. Instead of attacking them, journalists are now being arrested after forcibly entering their homes. Their computers are taken away and they are harassed. They are forced to make false statements. Some fabricate blatant lies to ensure the win of their favored politicians, says Karu Jayasuriya, Chairman of the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ).
“Character assassination has become common. They create racial and religious divisions. Religion has been made a commodity. As a result, we, as a country, are facing an unprecedented challenge. It is the next generation that will have to face the repercussions”, the former Speaker said at an event to commemorate journalists who laid down their lives for media freedom.
Dear Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen,
We the undersigned, more than 100 organisations from around the world, are appealing for your assistance to secure the release of prominent human rights defender and dual Danish-Bahraini citizen Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja from prison in Bahrain, where he is serving a life sentence for his peaceful political and human rights activities in violation of his right to freedom of expression. As he completes the tenth year of his imprisonment, we appeal to you directly as head of the Government of Denmark to renew and strengthen efforts to ensure his immediate and unconditional release so he can be reunited with his family and receive much needed medical treatment and torture rehabilitation in Denmark.
Bahrain: Open letter to Danish Prime Minister to take immediate action to free Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja article19.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from article19.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.