Musk tweeted version 2.0 privatized Middle Eastern dissidents feared lack of freedom of speech

Twitter appears to be privatizing, which has left dissidents in the Middle East and North Africa worried that the safe space for free speech was about to disappear in all forms of state censorship.

Under the expected ownership of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, popular social media apps are expected to change.

But activists and experts say turning Twitter into unregulated private business means that some of these changes are bound to limit users' security and privacy, effectively shutting them up.

In addition to open-source algorithms and resolving controversial bot issues, the billionaire entrepreneur, who struck a deal with Twitter Inc last week, also pledged to "certify everyone."

Gilian York, director of international free speech at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), told Al Jazeera, "No matter how you spin it, it will exclude some users of the platform." ”

Many have questioned how the self-proclaimed "free-speech absolutist" plans to verify the identities of human users and whether this will force anonymous users to reveal their true identities.

Karim Refai, a Syrian-American democracy activist, told Al Jazeera that if "verifying everyone's identity" included anonymity, it would "certainly have a profound negative impact on the global democracy movement."

Karim Refay said, "De-anonymization makes it dangerous or impossible for opposition activists living under dictatorships to safely criticize their oppressors." ”

Authenticating human users is a process that can be done in a number of ways.

Digital rights advocate and data scientist Val Alawani explains that it can range from "checking captcha boxes ... All the way to uploading official documents and personal photos".

Whatever you do, York and Aravani agree that it's "absolutely" worth paying attention to.

While certification is considered a "solution" to the bots and spam that thrives on Twitter, Aravani believes these "cannot be solved by certification itself."

Aravani said attacking robots in a linear fashion could lead to unintended consequences that are detrimental to long-term targets. He added that if Twitter users who anonymously posted against the authoritarian government ended up exposing their identities, they would be the first to be affected.

York agreed, saying, "An anonymous user who tweeted against the dictatorship ... They have to weigh the importance of their personal safety and work – a choice they shouldn't make. ”

A Cairo Twitter user, alias Big Pharaoh, told Al Jazeera, "As Musk said, I'd like to see the bot disappear, but I'll still be unhappy if anonymous accounts are no longer allowed." ”

The great pharaoh, who has blogged anonymously since 2004, is known for his tough stance against the Egyptian government. They have nearly 75,000 Twitter followers.

Anonymity stems from "security issues," they say, because their blog — also the great pharaoh — has become synonymous with their pen names.

In the early days, platforms such as Twitter and Facebook provided activists with the means to organize and expand demand, and in essence became a key tool in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

In the years leading up to the revolution, opposition voices that had blogged anonymously since the early 2000s found a wider audience on Twitter as the platform soared in popularity after 2008.

In a political environment that did not allow independent media to flourish, local activists like the great pharaohs were finally able to offer another perspective that resonated with millions of people.

The same is true of Mahmoud Salem, an Egyptian cybersecurity analyst who wrote a blog called "Rantings of a Sandmonkey." In 2005, Salem began blogging anonymously to promote debate on social and political issues in the country and in the region.

He later turned to Twitter and now shares his thoughts with more than 176,000 followers.

Salim said it was "very important" to be able to tweet anonymously before the Egyptian uprising, especially when it came to "not confusing information with messengers."

Tweeting anonymously, he explains, means you're stripped of any hashtags or affiliations.

Salem eventually revealed his identity in February 2011 after he claimed he was nearly killed by police, who briefly detained him for attending protests in downtown Cairo.

According to Salem, if Twitter decides to force users to give up their personal information under Musk's leadership, it will be the "end of online anonymous activism," suggesting that users may begin to move elsewhere, with encrypted messaging app Telegram being the "most obvious option."

Salem believes it could also be "the end of fake accounts and the end of Twitter user growth," raising doubts about whether new features will be implemented.

The formerly anonymous activist now blogs "occasionally" under his real name but no longer resides in Egypt. He said "it made sense to leave" after his friend and business partner "eventually were arrested or exiled."

In recent years, Egypt has cracked down on the media in unprecedented ways, detaining dozens of foreign journalists and occasionally expelling them.

In 2019, Egypt introduced stricter restrictions that allowed the state to block websites and social media accounts in the name of "fake news" or incitement.

Just last week, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government violently suppressed a peaceful uprising that began in 2011 and amended an existing cybercrime law that imprisoned Syrians who criticized the regime for up to 15 years.

Although Twitter has been a haven for hate speech and disinformation over the years, anonymous users can still speak freely without fear of immediate retaliation.

To better protect and support anonymous users, some say Twitter should continue to "protect users' privacy."