So Walid Bahomane. He's this 18-year-old kid who will most likely be sent to jail for posting "unflattering images" of the king on Facebook (c).
JAIL. That's serious.
Walid is our age. He could literally be a classmate of mine. And he's probably going to be sent to jail for offending the king.
This offense is very similar to Fouad Mourtada's arrest back in 2008 when he was arrested for creating a fake profile for the king's brother. Not a great idea to begin with, but he was accused of "villainous practices" for just making a fake account. He was sentenced to three years in jail for the offense. However, the public's response was so great - bloggers were in an uproar over this - and forced the government to give Mourtada a royal pardon after only a month in jail.
Just like the public responding so intensely to Mourtada's arrest, the increase in social media use considering Walid's offense has been extreme. Supporters and fans of his have been posting HUNDREDS of caricatures, comics, and images mocking the king and protesting Walid's arrest.
Seriously, the response is overwhelming. I'm guessing that half of these people don't even know Walid, but there out there tweeting things like, "@MusiqueArabe Operation support Walid Bahomane - publish a (king's) cartoon of you choice on your profile" and others claiming that their freedom is more sacred than their king.
In this case censorship on social media hasn't happened. Yet. Morocco is more upset over not being able to censor it and having to leave the picture and the resulting posts up on the internet while only being able to persecute the culprit. They want complete control, like the kind shown in Google China. Example: googling country borders in China on the U.S.'s Google shows China as seen on the world map. Googling China's borders on Google China shows many disputed borders and land that isn't a part of China as being considered Chinese.
Morocco wants that kind of control over the internet. Walid's post was just an excuse to exercise their power and show that they mean business and to "honor the king."
The internet is the last place where Moroccans can freely express themselves. Their government has everything else wrapped tightly around their finger. So for now, exercising social media censorship will be tricky for the king and his men.
This is Leslie, signing off.
@see_you_sLATER
Article referenced:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/in-morocco-and-saudi-arabia-limits-seen-to-speech-on-social-media/?ref=middleeast
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