How Facebook Is Being Used To Hunt Down Dissidents

The Al Jazeera film uses footage from the Bahrain government's Facebook page Photo: Al Jazeera English

Facebook 'Used To Hunt Down Bahrain Dissidents' -- The Telegraph

A new documentary claims the Bahraini government used Facebook to track down protestors.

In a stark contrast to the way in which social media played a pivotal role during the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia in rallying support among anti-government protesters, the a documentary called Shouting in the Dark - to be screened on Al Jazeera English this evening - claims that the ruling regime in Bahrain whipped up emotion via social media to find a 20-year-old anti-government protestor, identified as Ayat Al Qurmezi.

Visitors were told "write the traitor's name and work place" and, according to the film, masked commandos then arrested her and took her to prison.

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My Comment: While social networks can be used to organize protests, they can also be used by governments to track and identify dissidents for arrest.