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Last time we discussed about the
different threat facing... that the

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media had to face, and more specifically
local newspapers.

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We are going to carry on with this
subject.

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But for this week I would like
us to think about how new technologies

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are appreciated within the media.

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So here we are going to look at
some conflicts that tend to appear

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with new technologies.

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Tensions regarding the media and
some governments.

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So we all understand that new
technologies have an impact on

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the media but also on the relationship
between some governments and the media.

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And here I would like us to think
about the case of Russia.

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This is what you have in the document
I sent you with the title Big Tech's

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Russia Problem.

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So in this text it appears and
we learn that some new technologies

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and platforms have their access
limited in some countries such

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as Russia.

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This is particularly the case at

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the beginning of the war when the
war started in Ukraine two years

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ago in 2021-22.

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So what we learn is that Russia
decided to limit the access of

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Facebook for example and Twitter
in Russia.

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So now it means that these platforms,
the owner of these platforms have

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to deal with a kind of situation.

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They have to take a decision.

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Either they accept what the government
of Russia is telling them to do

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or they run the risk of being banned
in the country.

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So this is a dilemma they have
to deal with.

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So let's think about the impact
that some media such as Facebook,

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Twitter can have on the different

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governments or political system.

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When we first started these lessons
I said that very often the media

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was regarded as the fifth power.

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And I would like us to think about
when for the first time the media

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or some platforms had an impact,
a direct impact on the way a country

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was run.

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And for this one we have to go
to maybe 10 years ago,

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we have to go back 10 years ago
to what was known as the Arab Spring.

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We all understand that the revolution
that took place first in Tunisia

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and Syria and Egypt and many other
North African and Arab countries

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started on the internet.

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Those who took part in these
revolutions communicated through

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platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

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They were passing information about
their discontent.

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That was the starting point.

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In France we can refer as well
to the Yellow Vest Movement when

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different groups who were protesting
about the cost of life,

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about the cost of fuel,
used to communicate using some

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platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter and WhatsApp and to organize

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themselves and organize their
demonstrations.

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So taking these two examples we
see the power of the media.

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Now the question is,
what is it that let's say the owner

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of platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter should do when confronted

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to some governments such as the
government we have now in Russia?

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What should they do?

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Is it more interesting for them
to accept to a kind of censorship

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or should they decide to not censor

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themselves, taking the risk of
being banned?

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In the text I sent you,
we see that even if you have to

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limit your access or sometimes
you are asked to remove some of

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your contents to please the different
governments, this is seen as a

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solution because using the internet
and platform, even if there is

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some kind of disagreement with
the different governments in place,

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there is always this possibility
to make things change.

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This is the option that some platforms
such as Facebook, Twitter have

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decided to opt and to choose instead
of being totally banned from these

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countries.

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So this is a very interesting question.

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What are the limits of communication?

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I invite you to read this text,
answer the questions and also look

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at different countries.

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I mentioned in this lesson,
in this video, the case of Russia,

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the case of the Middle East and
North African countries,

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but also we have to look at China.

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China is a completely different
story in the sense that some of

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the platforms we see in the West
do not even exist in China.

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I think about things like Facebook
and Twitter.

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In China, they have their own system,
they have their own platforms that

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might look like the one we have
in the West, but for some political

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reasons, and maybe because the
government of China wanted to protect

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itself, they've decided not to
use this platform.

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So this understanding is what we
have to include when we look at

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the media, technology and how the
new forms of media platforms impact

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society.

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What are the limits of social media?

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What are the limits of communication?

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Thank you very much.

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See you next time.