Anti-Muslim video sparks debate about free speech online
By Shea O’Meara and Kristy Zhen
A recently released anti-Muslim YouTube video that sparked violent protest in the Middle East is the newest in a line of technology-driven protests in the Middle East.
“The Innocence of Muslims” sparked widespread anti-American violence during the past two weeks. Following Twitter-assisted revolutions during the Arab Spring, the video is raising concerns about the global impact of spreading free speech through developing technologies.
Robert Hernandez, an assistant professor at USC Annenberg who specializes in how technology and journalism intersect, said that emerging technologies are powerful tools.
“Technology gives voice to the voiceless,” Robert Hernandez said. “People can say things and get the word out in such powerful ways and it’s clearly a benefit to society but with that comes responsibility.”
Aisha Sindhu, internal liaison for the Islamic Alliance for Justice and Committee for the Advancement of Muslim Culture, two Cornell University groups that work closely with Ithaca-area Muslims, said that technology has made information about Islam more accessible, but viral videos like the “Innocence of Muslims” portray the faith in a negative light.
“That’s what the whole media age is about, spreading ideas across the globe,” she said. “If you can’t converse with people of different faiths and different backgrounds in different areas around the world, how does that knowledge really spread?”
Google censored access to the film in Libya, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, and some other countries. Both the Pakistani and Bengali governments have blocked YouTube, and the Brazilian government is forcing YouTube to block access to the video or face fines. The video is still available in the United States.
James Marshall, founder and president of the Berkeley Institute for Free Speech Online, said the video also caused pro-free speech demonstrations in some countries abroad, especially Libya, that have gone unreported by the Western Media.
Sindhu said while the group condemns the video, it provides an opportunity to discuss real issues in the faith.
“From CAMC and IAJ standpoint, it just makes us want to educate people more and make them more aware,” she said. “If it was censored, how would we go about addressing that issue?”
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