Social Media Danger in Mexico

Social Media Can Get You Killed: In Mexico, what you post on social media sites can get you killed. Because there is so much drug-related violence and crime in the country and because many news media outlets have been silenced or bribed by powerful drug cartels, it has become more and more common for Mexico’s residents to turn to social media sites for news and updates about criminal activity. As we saw with the “Twitter terrorists” incident in Veracruz, the Mexican government is not too happy about the possibility of people spreading false information and panic via social networking sites and is willing to punish those who have misused social media. And guess who else isn’t happy? The drug traffickers. Last week the bodies of a man and a woman were found in Nueva Lareda hanging from an overpass with a warning note threatening to kill other “Internet snitches.” The note was signed with a “Z,” referring to the Zetas drug cartel. As Nicholas T. Goodbody, a professor who teaches Mexican cultural studies at Williams College, commented in this New York Times blog post, “Mexicans who are using social media to navigate the chaos of the drug war increasingly find themselves between a rock and a hard place.”  NYT

People Are the Worst of the Day: Reddit is kind of like the Star Wars Catina: it’s a strange place full of seedy characters and unsavory conversations that most respectful folks steer clear of, yet it’s hugely popular. Case and point: a Reddit thread entitled “What extremely controversial thing(s) do you honestly believe, but don’t talk about to avoid the arguments?” nearly shut the site down because it got so much traffic, which involved sharing of all kinds of inappropriate, ignorant and disgusting comments ranging from racist remarks to underage pornography. Thankfully there were some inoffensive posts and even some thoughtful ones. But for the most part, it’s not a pretty sight, or site. Gawker

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