Social Media Controversies: Shutdowns, Regulation, Cyber Security and Cyber Warfare

Social media giants, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and others have been at the center of many controversies lately. These include the recent social media outages which shocked the world on October 5th, 2021, raising many questions about how and why they happened, and their broad implications, as well as the recent congressional hearings around the dangers posed by many of these social media platforms, especially for children and teens. Dr. Sahar Khamis discussed this important topic with her guests Mr. Mike Sexton and Ms. Eliza Campbell Mr. Mike Sexton is a DC-based cyber policy and Middle East expert. Mike previously served as Fellow and Cyber Program Director at the Middle East Institute (MEI); Senior Fellow and Associate Director of the Qatar-America Institute; Senior Analyst at the Chertoff Group; and Data Manager at the Chicago Project on Security and Threats. Mike has published articles and reports on cyber attacks, cryptography, and their implications for national security, human security, and international norms. He also serves as Managing Editor for Charged Affairs, the official journal of Young Professionals in Foreign Policy. Ms. Eliza Campbell is the Director of the Middle East Institute (MEI) Cyber Program. She was previously a researcher in technology and human rights at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, and she was a 2017-2018 Fulbright researcher in Bulgaria. She has worked in the humanitarian field in Jordan. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science and Arabic and a Masters degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. She co-edited with Mike Sexton the MEI-published book, Cyber War & Cyber Peace in the Middle East (October 2020). The episode was broadcast: 29/10/2021 US Arab Radio can be heard on wnzk 690 AM, WDMV 700 AM, and WPAT 930 AM. Please visit: www.facebook.com/USArabRadio/ Web site : arabradio.us/ Online Radio: www.radio.net/s/usarabradio Twitter : twitter.com/USArabRadio Instagram : www.instagram.com/usarabradio/ Youtube : US Arab Radio