Section: Global Voices (The Netherlands)
Speculation Flares Online as Huge Fuel Depot Fire Burns Near Kyiv
People watching the fire near Vasylkiv, Ukraine, on June 8, 2015. Image by Maksym Kudymets from Demotix. A massive fire has been burning at an oil depot near Vasylkiv, a town near Kiev, Ukraine, since Monday night, raising fears of air pollution and generating speculations about the cause of the fire online. According to the latest reports, four...
Facebook Responds to ‘Stop Political Blocking’ Petition by Russians and Ukrainians
Screenshot of the “Stop Political Blocking on Facebook” petition. Change.org. It’s taken about about two weeks and almost 11,000 signatures, but Facebook has at last responded to the “Stop Political Blocking on Facebook” petition. In a statement posted to Change.org on June 8, Thomas Myrup Kristensen, Facebook’s director of policy for...
How Ukrainian Activists Are Fighting Corruption in Courts Using YouTube
“Open Court” co-founder wearing a t-shirt that says “I am the law.” The slogan implies that every citizen, including lawmakers, is subject to the same laws. Image edited by Anna Poludenko-Young. A group of Ukrainian activists got tired of waiting for the government to fight corruption in the court system and decided to take matters into their own...
Ukrainian and Russian Users Petition Facebook to ‘Stop Political Blocking’
Title image from the Change.org petition page, displaying headlines of media coverage of the Facebook bans. A group of Internet and social media users who call themselves “the worldwide community of Ukrainian and Russian FB users” has started an online petition on the Change.org website to protest what they insist is ongoing, unwarranted, and...
Dying in Secret: The Ethics of Investigating Russia’s Ukraine Casualties
One of the new graves that Leviev and his team claim belongs to a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine fighting. Photo from http://ruslanleviev.livejournal.com. Russian opposition blogger Ruslan Leviev and his small team of investigators have released a new investigation into the deaths of three Russian soldiers who seem to have died during a battle...
Ukrainian Officials, Russian Security Services Thank You for Your Cooperation!
The Federal Security Service is allowed simplified access to data from Russian Internet services. Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot. Given all the discord and conflict between Russia and Ukraine during the last year or so, one would expect Ukrainian officials to be very, very careful about their information security. Instead, over 20% of Ukrainian...
The Profitable Patriotism of Vladimir Putin’s Biker Bromance
The Night Wolves ride their growing renown all the way to the bank. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock. With a name like theirs, you expect big things from the “Night Wolves,” the Russian motorcycle gang that’s become internationally famous for its peculiar patriotic events and diehard support for Vladimir Putin and Russia’s recent...
PayPal Blocks Donations for Printing Boris Nemtsov’s Ukraine War Report
PayPal has blocked the account collecting funds to print copies of the “Putin.War” report. The service says it can’t be used for “political aims” in Russia. Image by Richard Levine from Demotix. PayPal, the US-based electronic payment service, has blocked the account set up by Russian activists to collect donations for the print publication...
Facebook’s Zuckerberg Responds to Ukrainians’ Complaints, But Is His Answer Enough?
Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg during his live Q&A. Screenshot from Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg has addressed the appeals of Ukrainian Facebook users for better content moderation and calls to create a dedicated Ukrainian office. His answer? Facebook “might consider” opening an office in Ukraine some time “in the future.” Earlier this...
Fed Up With ‘Political’ Blocking, Russia and Ukraine Appeal to Facebook
Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has publicly joined calls for a dedicated Ukrainian Facebook office. His support for the cause comes after numerous users in Ukraine—and in Russia—complained of their posts and accounts being taken down or blocked, despite the fact that they may not have violated Facebook’s...
