With the coronavirus pandemic disrupting traditional campaigning, candidates and supporters are increasingly turning to social media to reach voters, prompting concerns about online hate speech and disinformation.
Several Telegram channels critical of the Kremlin reported that students and employees of state institutions in a number of regions were ordered by their superiors to attend rallies and concerts marking the Crimea anniversary.
March 19 (Reuters) – The Philippines´ presidential candidates debating on Saturday agreed on at least one thing and that was the need to hold social media firms liable for the spread of disinformation as the country prepares for elections on May 9.
And a bizarre moment in the speech came when Putin suddenly disappeared from news feeds in mid-sentence – replaced by a band that was mid-way through singing, perhaps suggesting his address was not broadcast live.
Between the Mass and his reading of the message, Francis, appearing in fine form, was driven in a popemobile around the square and down the main boulevard leading to the River Tiber so more people could see him.
Ofcom said the decision to suspend the licence came amid ongoing investigations into RT’s news and current affairs coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson also having previously called for an Ofcom review.
But the traditional pomp and sacred singing then gave way to modern realities. Francis later went up to the central balcony of St.
Peter’s Basilica to deliver his twice-yearly “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message and blessing, addressing a crowd the Vatican estimated at about 100,000.
As he has done every Easter, Francis called for peace in the Middle East, his appeal made more urgent by recent violence in Jerusalem and cross-border exchanges of fire involving Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
“On this day, Lord, we entrust to you the city of Jerusalem, the first witness of your resurrection. I express deep worry over the attacks of these last few days that threaten the hoped-for climate of trust and reciprocal respect, needed to resume the dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, so that peace may reign in the Holy City and in the entire region,” he said.
The event was heavily anti-Western and filled with Soviet nostalgia, as Russian authorities ramped up patriotism in response to being hit by massive international sanctions for Putin’s Ukraine campaign, which has stalled thanks to fierce resistance.
On Sunday he asked God to “comfort the wounded and all those who have lost loved ones because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families. Open the hearts of the entire international community to strive to end this war and all conflict and bloodshed in our world.”
The media watchdog went on: “We take seriously the importance, in our democratic society, of a broadcaster’s right to freedom of expression and the audience’s right to receive information and ideas without undue interference.
“By ignoring RT’s completely clean record of four consecutive years and stating purely political reasons tied directly to the situation in Ukraine and yet completely unassociated to RT’s operations, structure, management or editorial output, Ofcom has falsely judged RT to not be ‘fit and proper’ and in doing so robbed the UK public of access to information.”
Tens of thousands of flag-waving Russians packed out Moscow’s Luzhniki World Cup stadium on Friday as the despot attempted to drum up support for his stalled invasion of Ukraine, peddled debunked claims about why the war started and shilled a false narrative of Russia’s battlefield ‘success’.
Meanwhile, whoever set up a live stream of the event on YouTube did not turn the comment section off, meaning thousands of negative comments towards the event – written in Russian – flooded the page, as did blue and yellow heart emojis – the colours of Ukraine’s flag.
In the wake of the invasion, the Kremlin has cracked down harder on dissent and the flow of information, arresting thousands of antiwar protesters, banning sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and handing out tough prison sentences for what it says is false reporting on the war, which Moscow refers to as a ‘special military operation.’
‘The best confirmation of this is how our guys are fighting during this operation, shoulder to shoulder, helping each other. When it is necessary, they cover each-other as if it was their own brother from bullets.
A statement released by the regulator on Friday said: “We consider the volume and potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern – especially given RT’s compliance history, which has seen the channel fined £200,000 for previous due impartiality breaches.
VATICAN CITY, April 9 (Reuters) – Pope Francis appeared to ask Russians to seek the truth about their country’s invasion of Ukraine in his Easter message to the world on Sunday and appealed for dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians following recent violence.
