Meta Discovers 'Free Speech' Ends Where US Hegemony Begins
The New Arab notes social media platforms are restricting Iraqi accounts after the Iraqi government—which, let's not forget, was largely installed and influenced by the US post-2003 invasion—pushed for censorship. Suddenly, platforms like Meta, which regularly champion 'free speech' when it serves corporate interests, are quick to comply. It's almost as if 'freedom of expression' is a flexible
concept, especially when it concerns populations in resource-rich nations previously 'liberated' by Western powers. We saw this playbook before: platforms allowing coordinated foreign influence campaigns when aligned with US foreign policy, then cracking down when independent voices in the Global South deviate from the approved narrative. (Remember how the 'war on terror' quietly became a war on
dissent online?) Now, Baghdad, a government that can't exactly kick over Meta's servers, issues a 'request,' and suddenly, algorithms get busy. One might wonder why similar 'requests' from, say, Russia or China are met with staunch resistance, while an Iraqi government, beholden to American influence, gets such prompt service. It's almost like the 'global standards' of free speech are only
enforced when the puppet strings are pulled from Washington.