Angola News Wire

Instagram is blocking posts that mention abortion from public view, in some cases requiring its users to confirm their age before letting them view posts that offer up information about the procedure.

Over the last day, several Instagram accounts run by abortion rights advocacy groups have found their posts or stories hidden with a warning that described the posts as “sensitive content.” Instagram said it was working to fix the problem Tuesday, describing it as a bug.

In one example, Instagram covered a post on a page with more than 25,000 followers that shared text reading: “Abortion in America How You Can Help.” The post went on to encourage followers to donate money to abortion organizations and to protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strip constitutional protections for abortion.

The post was covered with a warning from Instagram, reading “This photo may contain graphic or violent content.”

Instagram’s latest snafu follows an Associated Press report that Facebook and Instagram were deleting posts that offered to mail abortion pills to women living in states that now ban abortion procedures. The tech platforms said they were deleting the posts because they violated policies against selling or gifting certain products, including pharmaceuticals, drugs and firearms.

Yet, the AP’s review found that similar posts offering to mail a gun or marijuana were not removed by Facebook. The company did not respond to questions about the discrepancy.

Berlin photographer Zoe Noble runs the Instagram page whose post referencing abortion was blocked for viewing. The page, which celebrates women who decide not to have children, has been live for over a year. Monday was the first time a post mentioning abortion was restricted by Instagram, although Noble has mentioned it many times before.

“I was really confused because we’ve never had this happen before, and we’ve talked about abortion before,” Noble said. “I was really shocked that the word abortion seemed to be flagged.”

The platform offers no way for users to dispute the restriction.

The AP identified nearly a dozen other posts that mentioned the word “abortion” and were subsequently covered up by Instagram. All of the posts were informational in nature, and none of the posts featured photos of abortions. An Instagram post by an AP reporter that asked people if they were experiencing the problem was also covered by the company on Tuesday and required users to enter their age in order to view it.

The AP inquired about the problem on Tuesday morning. Hours later, Instagram’s communication department acknowledged the problem on Twitter, describing it as a glitch. A spokesman for Instagram-owner Meta Platforms Inc. said in an email that the company does not place age restrictions around its abortion content.

“We’re hearing that people around the world are seeing our ‘sensitivity screens,’ on many different types of content when they shouldn’t be. We’re looking into this bug and working on a fix now,” the company tweeted.

Tech companies like Meta can hide details about how posts or keywords have been promoted or hidden from view, said Brooke Erin Duffy, a professor at Cornell University who studies social media.

“This can all take place behind the scenes, and it can be attributed to a glitch,” Duffy said. “We don’t know what happened. That’s what’s chilling about this.

Source: Voice of America

Lubango – At least 120 electoral agents of MPLA, in Huila province, started today, Wednesday, in Lubango, a training cycle of trainers, to act next to the citizen, in the framework of the general elections on August 24.

The training initiative, promoted by the provincial committee, is the result of conclusions and recommendations from the national seminar held on 21 August in Luanda.

Among the objectives is the need to equip the different electoral agents with adequate skills, from the pre-campaign phase to the publication of the results, preparing them for acts leading to the organisation of the electoral process, at the level of the party’s basic structures, so that the implementation of the electoral political strategy can rely on a diversified and categorised structure.

The same seminar has a duration of one day and is addressing issues linked to the role of the agent and the electoral officers, electoral logistics, action on social networks, mobilisation strategy, consolidation of concepts, as well as the simulation of the electoral process at the polling station.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – The acting president of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP), João Lourenço, on Wednesday in Lisbon, expressed the intention to continue working with the member-states, for the strengthening and expansion of the organisation.

The Angolan head of state, who in the Portuguese capital took part in the opening ceremony of the UN Conference on Oceans, was speaking to the press at the end of a visit to the headquarters of the Executive Secretariat of the CPLP.

“The joint work of the organisation will give greater cohesion so that, within a year or so, when we pass the mantle to the country that will succeed us, we will have a CPLP that is closer to achieving the goals we have been aiming for many years and position it in the place where it deserves,” João Lourenço said,

For the CPLP leader, the intention is to have an organisation that makes a difference in international politics and the world economy, with the contribution that the economies of its members can make in the future.

“We are here to work for the success of the CPLP,” said João Lourenço who highlighted the “good performance and work” developed by the secretariat of the permanent body, led by Zacarias da Costa, in this first year of the mandate he has ahead of the Angolan presidency.

During the visit to the CPLP’s facilities, guided by the organisation’s executive secretary, Zacarias da Costa, the Angolan head of state, in his capacity as head of the institution, signed the honour book.

Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor are member states of the CPLP.

Angola has held the rotating presidency of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries since the organisation’s 13th Conference of Heads of State and Government, held from 12 to 17 July, 2021, in Luanda.

Angola, which has succeeded Cape Verde as president of the organisation for the 2021-2023 period, has an agenda, among other projects, to boost mobility between member states and pay special attention to the economic sector.

Principles and objectives of the CPLP

The Community is the privileged multilateral forum for the deepening of mutual friendship and cooperation between its members.

Created on 17 July 1996, the CPLP has legal personality and financial autonomy, and its general aims are political and diplomatic consultation between its member states.

Cooperation in all fields, including education, health, science and technology, defence, agriculture, public administration, communications, justice, public security, culture, sports and the media and the materialisation of projects for the promotion and dissemination of the Portuguese language are part of its interests.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Malanje- The first secretary of MPLA in Malanje, Norberto dos Santos “Kwata Kanawa”, considered today, Wednesday, the political marketing as a preponderant instrument that the party will put in action to reach the electoral challenges.

He said that marketing will be in operation throughout the electoral campaign process, as a modern strategy and technique aimed at leading MPLA to win the general elections next August.

Kwata Kanawa was speaking at the opening of a seminar on political and electoral marketing, aimed at party activists in the province, which aims to provide them with tools to be used as strategies for hunting votes.

“It is with a winning spirit that the party is promoting this seminar, which marks a series of training and capacity building actions for cadres to cope with the planning, organisation and conduct of the election campaign,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, he called for the assimilation and putting into practice of the contents to be taught during the training, with a view to achieving the desired electoral objectives.

Source: Angola Press News Agency