Was there censorship against # MarchaNacional on Twitter?

This weekend, thousands of people in different parts of Mexico were part of the National March for Peace, a movement of peaceful civil disobedience to protest the deaths caused by the war on drugs. Convened by the poet Javier Sicilia, the conglomerate launched tens of thousands of -90 000, according to official figures, 200 thousand, according to organizers, who marched to the Zocalo of Mexico City to show their disagreement against the current administration of Felipe Calderón.

The march, like many civil resistance movements in recent months, was widely disseminated in social networks like Facebook and Twitter. To the media siege imposed by the Agreement for the coverage of the violence , people found on the internet a mechanism for rapid and effective organization. The spread of the message was such that more samples could organize sisters in different countries like France , Argentina , Germany , among others.

And it came on 8 May. Across Mexico, people with banners, posters, cries and claims out to the streets. In the Federal District, the heart of national life, the march became an entity that ran in the veins of the city. Of course, the amount of tweets soared, with the-minute information that came from those attending the march, supportive audiences, critics and aftershocks abroad. Despite noted a considerable amount of data, at no time was # MarchaNacional (label taken to discuss the motion) to the 10 trending topics nationally or in local issues in Mexico City or Monterrey.

# MarchaNacional not only remained unaccounted for, but arrived almost any topic related to sneak into the list. The only thing he did, apparently, was Xola, referring to the point where the march took a rest break. By contrast, issues relating to the Pumas, Monterrey party or any other celebrity artists stayed there. Of course, this result caused suspicion because, similar to what happened with the boom of WikiLeaks, a topic with an overwhelming flow did not appear.

The first reaction was accused of censorship and intrusion Twitter federal government. The suspicion came from Javier Sicilia and # MarchaNacional had been trending topic throughout the week. Why, suddenly, the day of the event is deleted from the list? Paradoxically, the disappearance of the label may mean something good for the movement. Remember that Twitter said after the scandal over the removal of WikiLeaks, their algorithm only detects the peak TTs. In other words, track topics with sudden growth, not those who have achieved a stable volume of mentions. That is the reason that oft-repeated words (like articles or prepositions) do not appear on the list.

If # MarchaNacional has managed to pass this limit, implies that they have a very high flow of information, which can be corroborated by doing a search on Twitter, and is no longer accelerated growth, but sustainable. Then, we might consider as a regular item, not each time. Why believe in this scenario? Simple: because in the cases of Egypt, Libya and the like, where protests were larger, there was no black hand of the company or government intervention.

Of course, there remain two possibilities. The other is that, in effect, the flow of information on football matches and the like have been higher, why can not be excluded completely. Yes, many people on the internet was attentive to the march, but we must remember that much of the population lacks the service and another uses it for recreational purposes only. In Mexico, the TV still rules the content and the media agenda, and in a country where the queues to enter the stadium and marches citizens come together but do not mix, it sounds possible.

And, of course, is the theory of government intervention Felipe Calderón, who (in collusion with Twitter "?) Would impose some kind of filter the topic. To me I can not think of any way they could have executed such a maneuver. The suspicion, however, is another symptom of the distrust that prevails against the present government and media management that is. Nor have I seen someone give evidence that there was such a criticism, but in a Mexico where the policy amounted to surrealistic, doubt survive. You be the judge.

Was there censorship against # MarchaNacional on Twitter? written ALT1040 May 9, 2011 by Pepe Flores
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