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With Social Media ‘we could have saved more lives’ in disasters

Members of Sri Lankan military rescue team work at the site of a landslide at Elangipitiya village in Aranayaka

By Amantha Perera

ARANAYAKE, Sri Lanka (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – For the first 48 hours after a huge landslide wiped out his hometown of Aranayake and buried 220 families, Prabath Wedage was on his mobile phone constantly.

“I have not been off the phone for five minutes,” said Wedage, who has been trying to coordinate consignments of relief supplies for 1,700 displaced people in 13 emergency shelters, including Rajagiri School, where he normally works.

In this devastated community – as in many disaster-hit places – the ubiquitous mobile phone and its social media apps are becoming a vital tool for relief and rescue workers, officials and families to share and gather information and keep in touch.

As Sri Lanka is hit with more disasters, from droughts to floods to landslides, making the most of the tools will be key curbing losses, experts say.

“We could have saved more lives if we had used these properly,” Wedage told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

He noted that it was only after last week’s landslide, which followed three days of incessant rain, that many residents begun to use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to share disaster-related information.

But government agencies dealing with disaster management also have been slow to adopt social media as a tool, experts say.

NO FACEBOOK, NO TWITTER

The country’s Disaster Management Centre, the main government agency dealing with disasters, does not have an active Facebook page or Twitter account. It relies on daily or twice-daily fax updates and press releases to media.

It has the capacity to send text messages to all mobile phone subscribers in the island, but has rarely used that facility, according to Pradeep Koddiplli, a spokesman for the center.

The same is the case with the Meteorological Department, which has made its daily updates on its website more detailed, but is yet to get on to social media or use text messaging.

“We have looked into this, but we have to devise a mechanism that is tested and proven,” said Lal Chandrapala, head of Meteorological Department.

For now, Wedage said, people looking for quick information during disasters “have to wait until a TV channel or a radio station broadcasts these updates, and that is too late to save any lives. We need live updates.”

Others agencies, however, are already finding the value of turning to social media. As Sri Lanka was hit by 355 millimeters (14 inches) of rain last week, the Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) relied heavily on its Twitter and Facebook platforms to get disaster-related information out.

In fact it was a SLRC tweet on the morning of May 19 that first alerted the nation to the enormity of the disaster. The tweet said 220 families were buried in the Aranayake landslide, while government officials balked at confirming a missing figure even 72 hours after the disaster.

The SLRC has also used social media to put out weather alerts, disaster warnings and relief and rescue information.

The organization’s aggressive push into social media has happened in part because of the lack of any other effective public warning system, said Mahieash Johnney, SLRC’s communications manager.

“In Sri Lanka we do not have a proper dissemination mechanism to reach people when it comes to natural disasters,” he said.

APPS TO THE RESCUE

Other smaller organizations also have taken to social media to give live updates and information during extreme weather.

Road.lk,, for instance, is a home-grown, user-fed information channel on road conditions, normally used to help drivers avoid traffic jams.

During the recent heavy rain, its Twitter feed and mobile app worked as a conduit for hundreds of bits of information aimed to help people deal with flooding and other problems, its creator Raditha Dissanayake told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Even this morning there were tweets telling people to get onto their roofs and wave blankets because rescue helicopters would be passing overhead. It’s unlikely that these people have access to radio or television but if their mobiles are still on, they can receive this information,” he said of the service, which has 22,000 Twitter followers.

PickMe, a local taxi app, also has introduced a flood relief button that allows users to donate flood-related relief material, and an SOS button that those trapped in flood waters can use to mark their location.

With no national media organizations providing constant live updates during the recent heavy rain, Roar.lk, a local current affairs website, began a live blog, while another, Yamu.lk, started a “How to help” page.

Road.lk’s Dissanayake feels that if such efforts could be better coordinated – preferably by a government body or large agency like the Sri Lanka Red Cross – they could be more effective and share key data.

“We believe that the data that we collect is quite useful to rescue effort organizers and we hope that we will be able to better coordinate with them in the future,” he said.

Johnney of the Sri Lanka Red Cross thinks it’s time public authorities harnessed the power of social media in their disaster management efforts.

“During the floods these few days, we have seen the power of social media,” he said. “When we needed to collect some items for flood relief, we just posted one message on Facebook and Twitter requesting donations. Within few hours, we had over 300 people at our headquarters.”

(Reporting by Amantha Perera; editing by Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women’s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate)

Widow sues Twitter for allegedly giving voice to Islamic State

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc is being sued by the widow of an American killed in Jordan who accuses the social media company of giving a voice to Islamic State, adding to the pressure to crack down on online propaganda linked to terrorism.

Tamara Fields, a Florida woman whose husband Lloyd died in the Nov. 9 attack on the police training center in Amman, said Twitter knowingly let the militant Islamist group use its network to spread propaganda, raise money and attract recruits.

She said the San Francisco-based company had until recently given Islamic State, also known as ISIS, an “unfettered” ability to maintain official Twitter accounts.

“Without Twitter, the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most-feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible,” according to the complaint filed on Wednesday in the federal court in Oakland, California.

Fields accused Twitter of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows triple damages for providing material support to terrorists.

Her lawyer said he believes it is the first case in which a social media company is accused of violating that federal law.

The lawsuit may add to pressure that social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook Inc face to take down posts associated with terrorist groups.

“While we believe the lawsuit is without merit, we are deeply saddened to hear of this family’s terrible loss,” Twitter said in a statement about the civil lawsuit. “Violent threats and the promotion of terrorism deserve no place on Twitter and, like other social networks, our rules make that clear.”

PRESSURE ON SILICON VALLEY

Last Friday, the Obama administration set up a task force to crack down on extremist groups using the Internet to advance their goals, find recruits and plan attacks such as recent killings in Paris and San Bernardino, California.

Senior national security officials from the administration also met with technology executives in Silicon Valley last week to discuss what more could be done to counter Islamist militants.

Fields, the widow, may face an uphill battle to prove Twitter knew or should have known that its technology was helping terrorists.

“We certainly know social media plays an important role in allowing ISIS to recruit foreign fighters,” said Jimmy Gurule, a University of Notre Dame law professor and former U.S. Treasury Department official specializing in terrorist financing.

“But at the end of the day, is there a sufficient nexus between ISIS’ use of Twitter and acts of terror?” he continued. “I’m not saying you can’t show it but it’s a real challenge.”

Lloyd “Carl” Fields was among five people killed in the “lone wolf” attack at the police training center by Jordanian police officer Anwar Abu Zeid.

The government contractor, who had been a police officer for a decade, was in Jordan to train police from that country, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

Joshua Arisohn, a partner at Bursor & Fisher representing Tamara Fields, said his client can prevail by showing that Twitter’s activity was a substantial factor in her late husband’s death, and that the death could have been foreseen.

“Given the significant support that Twitter has knowingly provided to ISIS over the years, we’re confident that we can meet this standard,” Arisohn said in an email.

TAKEDOWNS

Islamic State, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria, has used the Internet regularly to spread its message.

The Brookings Institution think tank has estimated that Islamic State supporters operated at least 46,000 Twitter accounts between September and December 2014.

Social media companies are not uniform in handling requests from authorities to take down online material. Some technology executives worry that being too quick to remove suspect posts could invite endless and often meritless demands for takedowns.

Twitter has positioned itself as a defender of free speech and been reluctant to act as censor.

According to its online “transparency report,” Twitter honored none of the 25 requests from U.S. government and law enforcement authorities to remove posts between January and June 2015.

Worldwide, Twitter said it honored 42 percent of the 1,003 removal requests from governments, law enforcement and courts during that period.

More than two-thirds of the requests came from Turkey. Twitter said it withheld 158 accounts and 2,354 tweets during the period.

In December, Twitter updated its policies for policing content to explicitly prohibit “hateful conduct.”

Gary Osen, a lawyer who in 2014 convinced a Brooklyn, New York jury to hold Jordan’s Arab Bank Plc liable for handling transactions for Palestinian militant group Hamas, said there is “no question” the Anti-Terrorism Act covers Fields’ claims, but that showing Twitter’s “knowledge or willful blindness” is the challenge.

Fields said she met that standard, citing Twitter’s alleged resistance to numerous requests from U.S. government officials, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and others to do more to keep Islamic State off Twitter.

Arab Bank settled its case in August.

The case is Fields v. Twitter Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 16-00213.

(Additional reporting by Dena Aubin and Jonathan Weber; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Alistair Bell)

Homeland Security Scrapped Proposal to Check Applicants’ Social Media Profiles

Homeland Security officials debated a policy that would have allowed authorities to review the social media profiles of foreigners who applied to come to the United States as far back as 2011, but ultimately decided against the idea, MSNBC reported on Thursday.

The news agency published a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo detailing a proposed policy that would have allowed officials to utilize social networking sites “for purposes of verifying information related to applications and petitions.” The memo indicates doing so could help detect “criminal activity, or egregious public safety or national security concerns.”

The memo itself isn’t dated, though MSNBC reported it was ultimately rejected in 2011 after a lengthy process that included multiple revisions. Speaking anonymously to the news agency, a former senior Homeland Security official said it was “unusual” for the policy to go through the revision process, which took about a year to complete, only for it to be axed by senior officials.

Public demand to check foreign applicant’s social media profiles before allowing them to come to the United States has surged after the Dec. 2 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook killed 14 people and wounded 21 more during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers in what President Barack Obama has called an act of terrorism.

FBI Director James Comey has testified before federal lawmakers and said the shooters were communicating about jihad and martyrdom over the Internet as far back as 2013, yet Malik was still able to obtain a fiancee visa and move to the United States despite those communications. She was living in Saudi Arabia when she met Farook, a U.S. citizen, on an online dating website.

Since then, lawmakers have said they’re crafting bills that would make checking an applicant’s social media profiles, or at least the publicly available information on them, a required part of the visa screening process. While there are some pilot programs for those reviews in place, ABC News has reported it’s still not a widespread policy, partly due to civil liberties concerns.

But the memo obtained by MSNBC indicates that federal policymakers had discussed allowing employees to review applicants’ social media profiles at least four years before the San Bernardino shootings.

The memo indicates that “many social networking websites” actually could not be accessed from Homeland Security computers, as the department’s security controls blocked them. The memo doesn’t specify what websites could not be viewed by employees, but says that “access to certain sites may be blocked to maintain employee productivity or to reduce security risks to agency networks.”

The policy would have allowed “certain agency personnel to access social networking sites for verification purposes.” The memo notes that while some sites have privacy settings that hide information, it’s possible for anyone on the Internet to see certain personal details or posts. The memo indicated that officials would only be allowed to review “publicly available information.”

The axed policy would have allowed applicants “to explain or refute any derogatory information obtained from social networking sites,” before any immigration ruling, according to the memo.

ISIS Threatens Paris-style Attack on Washington D.C. and Other Countries

The Islamic State recently posted a video on one of their websites, claiming that more attacks like the one carried out in Paris would be executed in other countries contributing to strikes against ISIS in Syria, including the United States.

In fact, the Washington Post reports that ISIS specifically threatened to carry out an attack on Washington D.C. in the 11 minute video after showing new clips of the carnage in Paris.

“We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France’s and by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington,” the man says, according to a translation from Reuters.

Another member of ISIS also threatened other European nations in the video.

“I say to the European countries that we are coming — coming with booby traps and explosives, coming with explosive belts and [gun] silencers and you will be unable to stop us because today we are much stronger than before,” he said.

Reuters added that it was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the video.

“European Day of Action for Refugees” Brings Protests

Saturday marked a day of protests across Europe after a Facebook-driven activist campaign called for a “day of action” on behalf of refugees.

“We can’t continue to allow thousands to die trying to reach Europe as they search for safety, hope and the chance to live another day,” the Facebook page states. “We can’t stay silent anymore as our politicians and the media are stigmatizing these men, women and children as threats and burdens. We can’t let our governments close all our borders and build fences to keep people in need out. That’s not what Europe should be about.”

Marchers in London worked their way to 10 Downing Street to call on Prime Minister David Cameron to accept more than the 20,000 Syrians he agreed to take over the next five years. The group held signs that read things like “Don’t Bomb Syria,” “Refugees welcome” and “Solidarity with refugees.”

Protests took place in Denmark, Austria, Romania, Greece, France and Finland.

Meanwhile, debate in Washington raged on Sunday morning talk shows about the role the U.S. can play in accepting Syrian refugees.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut suggested the U.S. could take in 50,000 refugees.

“It doesn’t stand to reason that Germany is going to take 800,000 and the U.S. has only taken 1,500,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “If we want credibility in the region, we’ve got to be seen as a partner in trying to solve this humanitarian crisis.”

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson said that any help should not compromise national security.

“It is not the fanciful to think that ISIS may be assaulting some of those refugees with some of their operatives,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “We are taking shortcuts in terms of vetting process. … . And we need to be first concerned about our own national security. So we are a compassionate nation, but we’ve got to fully vet the individuals that we would take in.”

Fallen Megachurch Pastor Says Gospel Allows Him To Be Seen at “Most Embarrassing Worst”

Tullian Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham who left his position as pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church because of an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman not his wife, is not running away and hiding in the wake of his sin.

To the contrary, Tchividjian is sharing his recovery in Christ through his Facebook and Twitter accounts to show people that God’s restoration, grace and love is very real.

What typically happens when a Christian leader falls is that they disappear and only reappear when they’re strong and shiny again. No one ever sees them in their broken and weakened condition. When we do this, we send the message that Christianity is only for good and strong and clean people,” Tchividjian said in a Facebook post.

“But believe it or not, Christianity is not about good people getting better. It is, rather, good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good. The message of the Christian faith is that because Jesus was strong for us we are free to be weak,” he added. “The Gospel sets me free to let you see me at my most embarrassing worst.”

Tchividjian’s postings have been talking honestly about his struggles “with anger, with frustration, anger with God, anger with my wife, anger with the church, trying in some way shape or form to allocate blame for my bad decision on something or someone outside of me.”

Tchividjian also talks on his Facebook page about how he began to “believe his own press” about his strength and power as a pastor and that allowed it to change him. He says it’s a “very subtle” process where you start to believe the things people are saying about you and lead you away from who you are and your foundation on Christ.

He calls the situation “a nightmare” and says that he is relying on Jesus alone.

“My family and I are, at every imaginable level, overwhelmed. What life will look like from here on out is completely unknown to us. And that scares me. But we are alive and not without hope. We are certain that better and brighter days are ahead,” he wrote.

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