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zidan.bsky.social
Ahmed Zidan
@zidan.bsky.social
7.2K followers 1.1K following 430 posts
Platforms | Press Freedom | Journalism Good takes and bad jokes. Dark humor and 🦋hite 🦋ine. Deputy director, audience, @freedom.press and @pressfreedomtracker.us. @zidanism on that other site.
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zidan.bsky.social
Ahmed Zidan @zidan.bsky.social · Jul 30
In June, I uncovered a Google vulnerability that was exploited to de-index legitimate articles from search.

Google acknowledged it and introduced a universal fix.

But also, there is a backstory about a SF tech exec., a domestic violence case, and a persistent censorship campaign.

@freedom.press:
Censorship Whac-A-Mole: Google search exploited to scrub articles on San Francisco tech exec
A novel method of de-indexing websites from search results was used to bury critical reporting and commentary.
freedom.press
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 1d
A federal court just blocked a ridiculous law that banned almost all speech on public college campuses in Texas after 10 p.m., including student journalism.

Huge win by @thefireorg.bsky.social defending the First Amendment.

Free speech doesn’t have a curfew.
VICTORY: Federal court halts Texas’ ‘no First Amendment after dark’ campus speech ban
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the University of Texas from enforcing a law that bans virtually all free speech on public university campuses after dark
www.thefire.org
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
trbrtc.bsky.social
Christiaan Triebert @trbrtc.bsky.social · 21h
When Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapsed in Syria, many of the officials who enabled and enforced his brutal regime disappeared. Our reporting uncovers who they are, what they did and where they fled. nyti.ms/3J1W5Cs
The Vanishing Act: How Assad’s Top Henchmen Fled Syria, and Justice
www.nytimes.com
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 1d
So much for Facebook's renewed commitment to free speech.

And so much for this administration's condemnation of social media censorship.

How long will it be before the DOJ demands platforms remove news reporting on ICE?
Facebook suspends popular Chicago ICE-sightings group at Trump administration’s request
The group ICE Sighting-Chicagoland has been increasingly used in the last five weeks of President Donald Trump’s intense deportation campaign to warn neighbors that federal agents are nearby.
chicago.suntimes.com
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zidan.bsky.social
Ahmed Zidan @zidan.bsky.social · 1d
John Oliver rips presidential library loophole freedom.press/the-classifi... ➡️ Follow @freedom.press for more.
John Oliver rips presidential library loophole
Plus: There shouldn’t be secret law. Pam Bondi didn’t get the memo
freedom.press
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seth-stern.bsky.social
Seth Stern @seth-stern.bsky.social · 3d
So the admin led by the guy whose defamation lawsuit against NYT rambled about how he was on Fresh Prince and Wrestlemania is calling our FOIA complaint “immaterial" and "scandalous" because it discusses the "gift" that was the subject of the FOIA. Got it.
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freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 2d
“I was hung from the metal shackles on my wrists and ankles and beaten in the stomach, back, face, ear and skull by a group of men and women guards, one of whom sat on my neck and face, blocking my airways…Our cell was awoken with threats of rape.”

Crickets from the State Department. Awful.
Journalist Abducted by Israel Says She Was Tortured in Israeli Custody
A journalist who was abducted by Israeli forces last week as she accompanied a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid vessel says she was tortured in Israeli custody alongside activists seeking to break Israel’s...
www.democracynow.org
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 2d
“I announced…I’m a journalist, I’m press.” The woman to my left hissed, “We don’t give a fuck,” and the other dug her nails into my scalp and pulled me by my hair across the port.”

U.S. allies abducting and torturing American journalists isn’t a problem to this administration.
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freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 1d
An American journalist was brutalized while in Israeli custody and reports being threatened with pepper spray and rape.

Yet U.S. officials are silent about the abuse of their citizens by one of America's closest allies and Israel's utter disregard for press freedom. There's no excuse.
ryangrim.bsky.social
Ryan Grim @ryangrim.bsky.social · 3d
Noa Avishag Schnall -- @noavi on IG -- a photojournalist who reported from the Conscience for @dropsitenews.com, has been released from Israeli detention.

Here she is just before her illegal abduction in international waters, and here she is after she was treated viciously in detention.
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laurenleharper.bsky.social
Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 6d
Come with an interest in classification and how kitchen cabinets could possibly be a national security threat, stay for the cat who refused to get off the kitchen counter.
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 6d
Trump is using national security as an excuse to impose new tariffs on kitchen cabinets.

This is what happens when “damage to national security” has no clear definition.

It leads to overclassification and more government secrets.

Watch @laurenleharper.bsky.social explain.
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 14d
When news organizations decide to engage in advocacy, they’re actually very good at it, said @trevortimm.bsky.social at @columbiajournalism.bsky.social, urging media outlets to speak out on 200+ journalists killed in Gaza.

“The mass killing of journalists … seems like a great place to start.”
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freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 14d
Journalist Mario Guevara is being deported because the American government punishes reporters to protect its own power.

We should all be outraged.

freedom.press/issues/mario...
Quote card from FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 15d
A US journalist is on board. The State Dept. should be all over this and it should be headline news.

Neither is likely, because the government considers critics of Israel terrorists and the media often shuns reporters who oppose slaughtering their Palestinian colleagues.
dropsitenews.com
Drop Site @dropsitenews.com · 15d
🚨 BREAKING: The Sirius-Haifa (carrying Drop Site editor Alex Colston) has been boarded by Israeli military...Contact with Colston has been lost; as part of security protocols, he and other...

🎥 “The Ship Sirius: A day in the life,” a video report from Alex Colston (@recolston.bsky.social)...
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zidan.bsky.social
Ahmed Zidan @zidan.bsky.social · 20d
My travel reading companions..
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 20d
Mario Guevara faces imminent deportation after being detained by ICE for over 100 days.

His crime? Livestreaming a “No Kings” protest.

If you were outraged about Jimmy Kimmel, you should be more outraged about Guevara.

It’s time to #FreeMario now!
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freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 20d
Journalist Mario Guevara has been in ICE custody for over 100 days "for doing nothing other than doing his job," @laurenleharper.bsky.social told @npr.org's 1A.

"The administration is using not just the FCC, but other agencies to really go after speech they don't like.”
The Trump administration’s relationship with the First Amendment
"They’ll take a great story and they’ll make it bad. See, I think that’s really illegal, personally."
the1a.org
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 20d
Your kitchen cabinets? A national security threat.

Your favorite movie? Also a national security threat.

Your favorite cocktail? Possibly a national security threat.

Here’s our current top five list of the dumbest things officials have done, or hidden, ostensibly to protect national security.
Your kitchen cabinets are a national security threat
The dumbest things the government has done, or hidden, in the name of national security
freedom.press
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tilleckert.com
Till Eckert @tilleckert.com · 21d
2/ I stayed by Monica Moreta-Galarza, who was seeking asylum with her family, until she was discharged from the hospital.

“Over [in Ecuador], they beat us there too. I didn’t think I’d come here to the United States and the same thing would happen to me,” she said in Spanish.
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zidan.bsky.social
Ahmed Zidan @zidan.bsky.social · 21d
Excellent, persistent line of questioning.

The answers, on the other hand, spiral from worse to downright absurd.
ichotiner.bsky.social
Isaac Chotiner @ichotiner.bsky.social · 23d
New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
freedom.press
Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 21d
🔴 HAPPENING NOW: Join us for a conversation exploring new ideas to defend press freedom in Gaza, co-sponsored by @freedom.press, @columjournreview.bsky.social, and @columbiajournalism.bsky.social’s Simon and June Li Center for Global Journalism.

Watch live:
Urgent Ideas for Defending Press Freedom in Gaza
YouTube video by Columbia Journalism School
www.youtube.com
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zidan.bsky.social
Ahmed Zidan @zidan.bsky.social · 21d
If you are a news outlet and don’t have a reporter on one of the boats that are sailing to break the siege on Gaza, “this is a political decision, not a news decision,” @dropsitenews.com’s Sharif Abdel Koddous says.

(DSN does have a reporter with the flotilla)

Live: www.youtube.com/live/LsAbOx4...
zidan.bsky.social
Ahmed Zidan @zidan.bsky.social · 21d
One small thing newsrooms can do is to make it crystal clear in every single story they write that there have been >200 journalists killed in this war and that Israeli authorities are not letting journalists into Gaza, @freedom.press’ @trevortimm.bsky.social says.

Watch live:
Urgent Ideas for Defending Press Freedom in Gaza
YouTube video by Columbia Journalism School
www.youtube.com
1
zidan.bsky.social
Ahmed Zidan @zidan.bsky.social · 21d
I wish this event happened two years ago, when it started, @lailaalarian.bsky.social says at an event exploring ideas to defend journalists and press freedom in Gaza at @columbiajournalism.bsky.social (co-hosted by @freedom.press and @columjournreview.bsky.social).

Watch live:
Urgent Ideas for Defending Press Freedom in Gaza
YouTube video by Columbia Journalism School
www.youtube.com
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zidan.bsky.social
Ahmed Zidan @zidan.bsky.social · 21d
Watch this important event live in 3 hours: www.youtube.com/live/LsAbOx4...

I will be posting live over at @freedom.press if you wanna follow along.
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Reposted by Ahmed Zidan
aclu.org
ACLU @aclu.org · 22d
BREAKING: Last night, an immigration board wrongly issued a final removal order for Emmy award-winning journalist Mario Guevara. ICE has detained Mario for over 100 days for his reporting, despite a previous order that he be released on bond.

This means he could be deported at any moment.
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