This article assesses the strategies of anti-immigration actors on social media and the discursive construction of immigrants and refugees in user interaction on Facebook. It emphasizes the particular role of emotions in racist discourse and analyses how an open Facebook group generates and circulates anti-immigration and racist sentiments to a large audience. By analysing the …
Category: Social Media
Stop Collecting Immigrants’ Social Media Data (2019)
Since the 2016 election, Congress has woken up to the consequences of allowing social media companies to hold vast stores of information about hundreds of millions of users and use it for their own purposes. But it continues to close its eyes to the dangers of allowing the Department of Homeland Security to tap into …
Report: Social media playing a role in fueling migration crisis on border (2021)
(NewsNation Now) — A new report claims social media platforms such as Facebook are encouraging illegal migrant smuggling and promoting hatred toward migrants, further turning up the heat on the social media giant in the wake of a company whistleblower coming forward this week. The report, from Border Report, a Nexstar website that reports on issues …
‘Unchecked’ social media platforms fueling migration crisis on border, industry experts say (2021)
Human trafficking routes, modes of transit, prices, and even discounts freely promoted on Facebook sites, report finds. McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, like Facebook, encourage illegal migration to the United States as well as promote and illicit hatred toward migrants, cybersecurity and migration experts who are calling on …
Homeland Security to collect social media usernames on immigration and visitor applications (2019)
Washington CNN — The Department of Homeland Security plans to begin requesting social media information on applications for immigration benefits and foreign travel to the US, an expansion of data collection already taking place. Some foreign travelers to the US, as well as applicants for immigration benefits, will be asked to list their social …
How does social media affect our understanding of migrants and refugees? (2021)
Social media has become integrated into our everyday lives as a site for friendships, entertainment, business, politics, and activism. Today, at least one in three people globally is on a social media platform. This has practical implications for migrants and refugees, offering empowering opportunities for representation but also surveillance concerns. In addition, this shift has …
How social media has changed migration to the United States (2021)
For migrants traveling north to the U.S.-Mexico border from countries like Chile and Brazil, the trip has become virtually impossible without two things — a smuggler and social media. Read More…
Think Twice Before Posting: Social Media Posts Can Impact Immigration to the US (2020)
f you are one of the 3.484 billion people who use social media and you are seeking an immigration benefit, you’ll want to think twice before posting. Since September 2019, visa applicants abroad have been required to disclose their social media profiles, past email addresses, and phone numbers. U.S. Consular Officers are required to review …
Social Media Monitoring (2019)
Personal information gleaned from social media posts has been used to target dissent and subject religious and ethnic minorities to enhanced vetting and surveillance. Read More…
Facebook, social networks being used in human smuggling
People smugglers are increasingly relying on social media platforms, particularly Facebook, to find their customers. Europol’s European Migrant Smuggling Center (EMSC) last year identified 1,150 suspicious social media accounts – a staggering rise from the 148 accounts it was watching in 2015. The trend, which is also is reflected in other parts of the world, …
European citizens want information on migration – not higher walls
Despite being bombarded with headlines about the “migrant crisis” facing Europe, little is really known about how European citizens perceive and experience migration in their daily lives. As part of our ongoing research we’ve found that rather than linking “irregular” migration with fears of terrorism, EU citizens have a more nuanced position on border security. The people …
Phones are now indispensable for refugees
SOMETIMES Hekmatullah, a 32-year-old Afghan, has to choose between food and connectivity. “I need to stay in touch with my wife back home,” he says, sitting in a grubby tent in the Oinofyta migrant camp, near Athens. Because Wi-Fi rarely works there, he has to buy mobile-phone credit. And that means he and his fellow …
US border agents checking Facebook profiles, lawyer says
Should what’s on your Facebook page be a factor in determining whether you’re allowed to re-enter the United States? That’s a question to ponder in the wake of President Donald Trump’s ban on immigration that began on Friday. Border patrol agents are checking the Facebook accounts of people who are being held in limbo for approval to …
In Rome, Violent Eviction of Migrants ‘Touched a Nerve’
The gardens by Piazza Venezia in the middle of Rome are normally used as a rest stop by tired tourists. In recent weeks, they have instead become home to weary asylum seekers, evicted from a building in Rome that they had illegally occupied for years. At dawn on Monday, the police came to evict the …
The Digital Footprint of Europe’s Refugees
Migrants leaving their homes for a new country often carry a smartphone to communicate with family that may have stayed behind and to help search for border crossings, find useful information about their journey or search for details about their destination. The digital footprints left by online searches can provide insight into the movement of migrants as they transit …
‘Far-Right Hipsters’ Are Crowdfunding To Send Migrants Back To Africa
Some young European far right-wingers are so fed up with migrants reaching the continent’s shores that they’ve decided to take matters into their own hands. The group is raising money to run its very own border patrol mission in the waters separating Libya and Italy. The Identitarian Movement (known as IB) tries to appeal to its cohorts by …
DHS adds social media to immigration files
The Department of Homeland Security announced Sept. 18 that it was adding social media and other public-facing information to its immigration records. The move has generated alarm among privacy activists and generated a flurry of comments in the normally sleepy public docket. Essentially, DHS announced that it was redefining what constitutes an official immigration file, expanding the scope of …
Zimbabwe created a new ministry to monitor social media. But most Zimbabweans don’t want government monitoring.
In a highly anticipated reshuffling of cabinet appointments last week, Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, created a new ministry of “Cyber Security, Threat Detection and Mitigation,” to be led by former finance minister Patrick Chinamasa. The government claims the ministry was created because of growing abuse of social media, including cyberbullying. But observers claim that the real reason is to clamp …
The refugee crisis captured in haunting detail using infrared cameras
The Irish artist spent two years capturing the journeys of migrants into Europe using the camera, which can detect a human body from 30km and identify an individual from 6.3km. As the equipment is subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, Mosse hired lawyers to obtain an export document for each trip. “The camera was designed …
Last refuge: the online communities of lost migrants
The plan was for Musaab to go first, and later, once he was given status as a refugee, his wife and son would join him through the United Nations’ family reunion programme. In early August 2014, he boarded a flight to Algeria (which, at the time, was still granting visas on arrival to Syrians with …
Syrian Refugee’s Viral Story Found Him a Home
“Mohsen’s story went viral after he was filmed being tripped up by a camerawoman as he fled police near the Hungarian border with Serbia last September. He was carrying his youngest son Zaid, then 7, in his arms at the time, and the two fell sprawling on the ground. Footage of the incident helped bring …
Refugee social media doesn’t always reflect reality
“The Guardian ran an interesting article about Gambian refugees, many of whom are disappointed to discover their lives aren’t much better in Europe than they were at home. One small detail about these struggling refugees that stuck out to me in the piece: Migrants, worried they will disappoint their families back home, don’t post about their struggles …
Syrian humanitarian aid in the technology age
“The conflict in Syria has left 6.5 million people internally displaced and created more than 2.2 million refugees. The bulk are living in the neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, where the demands on humanitarian agencies and host governments are huge. Helping relieve this burden is the application of smart technologies.” Click here …
Selfies, Smartphones Bring Comfort To Migrants On Balkan Route
Maziad Aloush, a former school teacher fleeing the Syrian war, led his band of refugees through five countries—across the Mediterranean sea and through forests and around mountains—before they eventually disbanded near the border of Austria and Germany. Like so many of the hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring into Europe to escape war and deprivation, he …
How refugees are using Google Maps, social media to cross borders
Europe’s refugee crisis is growing more complicated by the day. European Union interior ministers are set to meet for emergency talks on Monday, after Germany was forced to reintroduce checks at its border with Austria to stem the continuing flow of refugees. But thousands of refugees determined to flee life-threatening situations at home continue to arrive …
Using Facebook, Cameras, and Cash, Syrian Refugees Are Trying to Save Each Other
Mohamad drives with one hand, squinting at the afternoon sun as his phone rings for the fifth time in the past half an hour. The lanky 25-year-old Syrian shrugs the mobile to his ear with one shoulder, scribbling numbers on a Post-it as he repeats them out loud: “$1,000 to Tripoli; $200 to Hiba’s family; …
The refugee crisis; the power of social media
They ran in the dark towards the Austria-Hungary border. Some had flashlights. Some scampered through the shadows. Some were registered under UN regulations, others were not. They did not know where they were going and they did not know what would happen to them. They ran, hungry, thirsty and blind. This was the scene when …
Syrian Refugees: Canadians Relying On Social Media To Help Newcomers
HALIFAX — Val Macdonald says it only took a few minutes before a little red notification popped up on her Facebook page after posting about donations for a Syrian refugee family. The privately-sponsored refugees arrived in British Columbia’s Comox Valley in October, but they needed some essential items. Macdonald, who helps run the Syrian Refugee Support …
U.S. screening refugees’ social media accounts
Homeland Security is now trying to screen the social media accounts of Iraqi and Syrian refugee applicants, an agency chief said, as evidence emerges that immigration officers missed potential clues that foreign fighters left in cyberspace about their intentions. Leon Rodriguez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that screens refugees, told C-SPAN …
‘Facebook refugees’ chart escape from Syria on cell phones
Refugees and migrants are scattered all across this island. They wash their clothes on the beach below the crumbling ramparts of a 1,400-year-old castle that once defended Lesbos. They camp in tents in the parks. At night, they trudge past bars and restaurants where Greeks drink ouzo and dine on grilled fish. But the wave …
Ai Weiwei Reveals Berlin Installation via Instagram
From an article by Lauren Said-Moorhouse for CNN Style: “Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has covered a Berlin landmark with thousands of refugee life jackets for his latest installation. The striking display is the activist’s latest attempt to highlight the scale of migrants taking to the seas every day. Ai’s team began wrapping 14,000 discarded life …
Mass Migration Guided by Social Media
From The Irish Times: “Through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary, hundreds of thousands of migrants making for western Europe now rely on smartphones and social media to avoid police, find “safe” people smugglers and accommodation, and follow the latest news as governments grope for answers to a deepening crisis. “They make contact and share …
#MigrationMeans
Humans of New York Refugee Stories
As hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees pour into Europe in search of a safe haven from the ongoing civil war, Humans of New York is relocating to the midst of the crisis.Brandon Stanton, the photographer behind HONY, wrote on Facebook on Friday that he would spend the next 10 days or so traveling through …