https://arab.news/zb65r
LONDON: More than 100 Hollywood stars and other celebrities have penned a letter decrying the Israeli government’s decision to designate six prominent Palestinian charities as terrorist organizations.
Among the letter’s signatories are actors Tilda Swinton, Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere, director Ken Loach and musician Jarvis Cocker.
The joint letter described the move as “an unprecedented and blanket attack on Palestinian human rights defenders.”
Last month, Israel designated six Palestinian charities that advocate regularly for human rights as terrorist organizations for their perceived links to Palestinian militant groups.
Among the proscribed groups were Al-Haq — which issues reports on diverse issues including Israeli home demolitions and Palestinian Authority prison abuses — and Addameer, which represents Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli military courts. Another, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, is a non-profit advocacy group working to protect Palestinian farmers.
Some of the groups have received international funding, including from the EU and individual European countries.
The stars’ letter condemned this decision, stating: “The designations target six of the most eminent Palestinian human rights defenders engaged in critical human rights work and cover all aspects of civil society in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The celebrity letter follows other statements from western human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which issued a rare joint statement. They said Israel’s “appalling and unjust decision” to blacklist the Palestinian charities was “an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement.”
The designations mean Israeli authorities can close the groups’ offices, seize their assets and arrest their staff in the West Bank, the rights groups said.
The move has drawn condemnation from the UN, which called it “the latest development in a long stigmatizing campaign against these and other organizations, damaging their ability to deliver on their crucial work.”
Israel defended the ban on the groups, saying they used “forgery and deceit” to access international funding that is allegedly funneled to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which has engaged in attacks on Israeli citizens and security forces.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said: “How the international community responds will be a true test of its resolve to protect human rights defenders. We are proud to work with our Palestinian partners and have been doing so for decades. They represent the best of global civil society.”
Paris, France: Google and Agence France-Presse on Wednesday said they had signed a “pioneering” five-year deal under which the world’s biggest Internet search company will pay an undisclosed sum for content in Europe.
The agreement following 18 months of negotiations is the first by a news agency under the 2019 European directive on so-called neighboring rights, which are at the heart of multiple disputes between web giants and the media.
DUBAI: The Advertising Business Group and Interactive Advertising Bureau have partnered with the Trustworthy Accountability Group to launch TAG’s international standards in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
TAG is a cross-industry, self-regulatory initiative to fight criminal activity and promote brand safety in the digital advertising supply chain. In 2016, it launched the Certified Against Fraud Program to combat invalid traffic in the digital advertising supply chain.
The program has made a significant impact on reducing ad fraud across the world. In the US, key markets in Europe, and several markets in the Asia-Pacific region, ad fraud rates were found to be over 90 percent lower when advertisers used TAG-certified distribution channels compared to industry averages.
Elda Choucair, CEO of Omnicom Media Group MENA and vice-chair of ABG, told Arab News: “The launch of TAG (in the GCC) is another example of how our region is growing up, working together to drive meaningful improvements in trust and transparency.
“It is a fantastic initiative sorely needed in our region and one that will reward publishers that deliver trusted, high quality, and safe media.”
Since TAG was established in 2015, it has worked with over 700 companies from 40 countries. Its international standards were launched via webinar on Nov. 17, encouraging companies in the region to get involved and play their part in tackling criminal activity and promoting a more brand-safe environment for advertisers. Many international businesses are already applying TAG’s requirements in the region.
Subject to TAG’s working processes, independent validation of the anti-fraud standard will be mandatory for businesses operating in the GCC region. Self-attestation will not be an option and international businesses that wish to apply their existing TAG certifications in the GCC region will need to ensure their compliance is independently validated.
In addition to TAG’s Certified Against Fraud Program, it has also launched a Brand Safety certification to minimize the risk of ad misplacement and tackle the issue of “malvertising” via its Certified Against Malware standard.
Companies will also be able to work together to combat threats to the digital advertising supply chain via TAG’s Threat Sharing Exchange program.
“The IAB is partnering with TAG and the ABG to bring industry standards to tackle serious challenges, such as ad fraud, to the GCC digital advertising market,” Ian Manning, CEO of IAB GCC, said in a statement. “Not only will this support many international business’ existing approaches, but it will also raise the benchmark for local ones — reducing fraud, stimulating growth, and driving trust in our industry.”
DUBAI: COFE App, the online coffee-centric marketplace, has announced a regional partnership deal with MBC Group. The strategic partnership will see MBC Group extend its support to COFE in achieving its ambitious growth strategy through MBC’s channels, digital platforms and events.
MBC Group will play a critical role in adding scale and visibility to COFE’s growth trajectory in addition to having investment priority in COFE App’s future funding rounds.
COFE’s strategic collaboration with MBC Group marks the first in a series of key partnerships that will support the start-up in strengthening its footing in the beverage tech sector. The app, whose success was accelerated during and after the pandemic, currently serves coffee lovers across the UAE, KSA, and Kuwait.
“This partnership marks a pivotal milestone for the COFE brand. We truly believe we can become a market leader in the beverage technology space across the region and beyond and can only reach our goal with the support of the vast network of channels and partners of the heavyweight MBC brand,” said Ali Al-Ebrahim, founder and CEO of COFE.
The partnership with COFE App is part of MBC’s plan to actively explore new media and emerging types of content, services, events, and more to aid regional businesses in offering the most innovative and up-to-date products and services for customers.
“MBC believes that innovation in responding to consumer behavior is the essence of entrepreneurial digital solutions. MBC is committed to supporting and elevating regional entrepreneurs through visibility,” said Fadel Zahreddine, group director of emerging media at MBC Group.
COFE’s partnership with MBC will drive the growth and visibility of the mobile app to serve a greater number of audiences within the Gulf Cooperation Council and Middle East and North Africa regions, as the brand prepares to launch in Egypt in 2021, and in international markets like the UK by 2022.
DUBAI: Spotify is available to listeners and creators in Iraq and Libya, as part of its ongoing commitment to be the top global audio streaming subscription service.
In 2018, Spotify launched in 13 new markets in the MENA region with a fully Arabic user experience. These were the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, and Egypt.
“Since the end of 2018, Spotify has already had a warm welcome in the region, and expanding our presence to Iraq and Libya will help us further support local artists and foster the local music scene,” said Claudius Boller, managing director of Spotify MENA.
Listeners in the two countries will now have access to Spotify’s free and premium services, while local artists in these countries will have the same opportunities as creators in other markets, with the tools to gain more audience insights and propel their careers locally and internationally.
Earlier this year, Spotify announced its expansion to more than 80 new markets around the world.
“Building off the momentum from our expansion around the world in February of 2021, we’re excited to continue reaching new listeners and creators, regardless of where they live,” added Boller.
LONDON: India’s pro-government social networking service Koo has risen to prominence on the country’s social media scene after months of disputes between Indian authorities and technology companies, including Twitter and Facebook.
Koo recently witnessed a raft of Indian Cabinet ministers, government agencies, and right-wing celebrities opening accounts to support the homegrown app, in the process bringing millions of followers with them.
According to its co-founder, Aprameya Radhakrishna, the platform, with its bird logo and scrolling feeds of 400-character posts, had positioned itself as something more “nationalistic and populist” and was becoming increasingly popular among users in India.
One reason, he said, was that the app catered for native languages such as Hindi, unlike Twitter that was dominated by English. And he pointed out that Koo would never defy a government order to take down content, or censor and even silence a national leader.
Although unlikely to overtake Twitter anytime soon, Koo has offered a more-pliant, social media alternative that has been embraced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing supporters.
Earlier this year, the Indian government became embroiled in a feud with social media giants, such as Twitter and Facebook, over what it claimed was the firms’ failure to comply with legal rules which the companies argued went against freedom of speech and expression.
In May, New Delhi police visited two Twitter offices to seek more information about the firm’s rationale in labeling a tweet by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson as “manipulated media.”
After months of argument, Twitter began complying with some of the rules after veiled threats that tech companies may no longer be allowed to operate in the country.
In August, Twitter blocked the official account of India’s largest opposition party, the Indian National Congress, in a move that the ruling government claimed was an “act of respecting the country’s law.”
