Name: Social networks clamp down on Colombian FARC dissident accounts
Brand: reuters.com
SKU: reuters-com-3746
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Social networks clamp down on Colombian FARC dissident accounts

preview

By BOGOTA (Reuters) - Twitter has suspended accounts linked to FARC dissidents after Colombian police complained that they were being used to encourage violence, and Facebook said it has also removed related content from its platform.The Twitter accounts for @IvanMarquezFarc, belonging to former FARC leader Ivan Marquez, and @SMarquetalia, which is controlled by FARC dissidents who rejected a 2016 peace deal, now read “Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter rules.”The account @JSantrich_FARC, belonging to former FARC leader Jesus Santrich, has also been suspended.Twitter was not immediately available to comment.Facebook has recently removed content related to FARC dissidents as identified by its moderators, it told Reuters via WhatsApp.“We will continue to take action in accordance with our community standards and dangerous organization policies,” a spokeswoman said.The move comes amid a wider crackdown on social media accounts that have been accused of inciting violence. Twitter and Facebook permanently locked the account of U.S. President Donald Trump last week, citing the risk of further violence following the storming of the Capitol by his supporters.Critics say removing such accounts tramples on free speech rights and gives too much power to U.S. tech executives.Colombia’s national police director General Jorge Luis Vargas this week requested that social media firms block the FARC dissident accounts after a video was published of Marquez speaking alongside others armed with rifles as he criticized the government.“They’re armed, they’re issuing messages calling for international terrorism. That’s why we have asked that they be blocked, in accordance with international law,” Vargas told journalists.In 2019, Marquez and Santrich - former commanders of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - appeared in a YouTube video announcing a new offensive, just three years after signing a peace deal with the government.The 2016 peace deal ended the FARC’s role in a more than five-decade conflict which has left 260,000 dead and millions displaced. Although the deal allowed around 13,000 former FARC members to demobilize, some leaders and combatants have abandoned it and taken up arms again.Some 2,500 combatants make up FARC dissident groups, which are involved in drug trafficking and illegal mining, according to the government and the military.FARC dissidents, as well as other armed groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN), regularly use social media networks to publish messages.Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Rosalba O’BrienOur Standards:

By BOGOTA (Reuters) - Twitter has suspended accounts linked to FARC dissidents after Colombian police complained that they were being used to encourage violence, and Facebook said it has also removed related content from its platform.The Twitter accounts for @IvanMarquezFarc, belonging to former FARC leader Ivan Marquez, and @SMarquetalia, which is controlled by FARC dissidents who rejected a 2016 peace deal, now read “Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter rules.”The account @JSantrich_FARC, belonging to former FARC leader Jesus Santrich, has also been...

public

Luis Jaime Acosta

Top and breaking news, pictures and videos from Reuters. For more breaking business news, follow @ReutersBiz.

reuters.com

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

Social networks clamp down on Colombian FARC dissident accounts

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS