""We Live in Perpetual Fear": Violations and Abuses of Freedom of Expression in Somalia"

 ...Due to self-censorship and co-optation by a majority of the media houses, journalists and other individuals in Somalia opted to use social media as a platform to air their views and share critical content. But the Somalia authorities are also closely monitoring discussions on social media. The government has allegedly set-up social media monitoring teams that monitor and report on critical coverage. Journalists and other government critics including opposition leaders are threatened, intimidated and harassed online, including on social media, by the authorities. Facebook accounts of 16 individuals – including 13 journalists – were permanently disabled or deleted in 2018 and 2019 alone. All the individuals whose Facebook accounts were disabled told Amnesty International that they had previously posted critical content. There were also attempts to hack the Facebook accounts of five journalists while the accounts of four more were compromised in the past two years...

[Amnesty International urges Facebook to] thoroughly and effectively investigate the allegations in this report relating to Facebook manipulation by the Somalia government or other individuals working with or on its behalf; Take concrete steps to ensure Facebook is not manipulated by the Somalia authorities, especially ahead of the 2020/21 elections. This includes increased due diligence to investigate purported abuses of the Facebook Community Standards. Facebook should also consider the impact that disabling the accounts of Somali journalists will have on the population’s access to information, given that these accounts are the primary source of information for many ordinary Somalis; employ enough Somali speaking content moderators to avoid manipulation by authorities; ensure such Somali content moderators are independent of government interference; [and] provide a clear appeal process for individuals including journalists and human rights defenders whose Facebook accounts are deleted or disabled, including notifying them of the specific reasons why their accounts have been disabled.