Free Speech

Judge orders disclosure of funders of lawsuit against CNN

A federal judge's order requiring lawyer and professor Alan Dershowitz to disclose the funders of his $300 million defamation lawsuit against CNN is "welcome news in an era where billionaires and politicians fund surrogate plaintiffs to punish media adversaries," writes Seth Stern, the Director of Advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

The Canadian Progressive
November 28, 2022

Monetization, not human rights or vulnerable communities, matter most at Twitter under Musk

It’s no coincidence that Twitter "experienced a surge in racists slurs in the first few days after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition". Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist", does not care about the human rights of vulnerable communities.

The Canadian Progressive
November 24, 2022

Human rights groups: “Iranian authorities must immediately release technologists and digital rights defenders”

Access Now, ARTICLE19, Front Line Defenders and the Electronic Frontier Foundation "strongly condemn the Iranian authorities’ ruthless persecution, harassment, and arrest of technologists and digital rights defenders amid the deadly crackdown on nationwide protests" triggered by Mahsa Amini's death in police custody.

The Canadian Progressive
October 17, 2022

A new Declaration for the Future of the Internet

Meanwhile, Internet freedom declined for the fifth time in a row in the U.S., and for the 11th consecutive year globally, according to Freedom House

Obert Madondo
June 20, 2022

A terrible social media week for Donald Trump as Facebook extends suspension to two years

First, Trump voluntarily nuked “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” his own blog, created only at the beginning of May. Then on Friday, Facebook announced that the former U.S. president's suspension from Facebook and Instagram, initially announced in the wake of the deadly Jan 6. U.S. Capitol insurrection, would be extended to two years.

Obert Madondo
June 5, 2021

Twitter permanently bans U.S. President Donald Trump

In the aftermath of the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump white nationalists, far-right extremists, white supremacists, QAnon adherents, and ordinary Americans, Twitter permanently banned outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump to reduce “the risk of further incitement of violence”.

Obert Madondo
January 10, 2021

Obert Madondo is an Ottawa-based digital artist, blogger, photographer, graphic designer, web designer, digital rights enthusiast, digital storytelling enthusiast, aspiring filmmaker, and online publisher.

Obert is a former political aide to a prominent former Zimbabwean lawmaker, human rights defender and former freedom fighter. Obert has previously worked as an international development administrator in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, and Canada.

Obert is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Canadian Progressive, an independent political blog dedicated to producing fearless, evidence-based, adversarial, unapologetic, progressive and activism-oriented journalism situated right at the intersection of politics, technology and human rights.

Follow Obert on Twitter: @Obiemad