Meta Starts a Digital Safety Course for Journalists

As the world seems at the unprecedented war in cyberspace, Meta, having already become one of the battlefields, launches a digital security course for journalists and human rights defenders. This course will instruct them about maintaining their privacy, protecting them from harassment, and doing their job despite all the risks.

 The content of the course includes preventing cyberattacks, protecting sensitive data from state and non-state interests, using PGP for greater security, and minimizing the risks of online harassment. The recommendations were developed in collaboration with The International Center for Journalists and the Border Center for Journalists.

 The course is rather short, just 90 minutes. As it’s self-paced, everyone can stop it at any moment and digest the information or try the recommendations in practice. And, of course, it’s available for free. 

 So far, the course is only available in English. Other languages are to be added soon, the first of them being Filipino, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Urdu, Sinhala, Bengali, Tamil, Bahasa Indonesia, and Khmer. As you see, all of them are Asian, from Pakistan to the Philippines, which shows what regions are considered to need this help the most urgently. The absence of Russian and Ukrainian, in wake of the Russian invasion in Ukraine and repressions against home opposition in Russia, is noticeable. These languages, though, may be the next to come.

 As for us, this course can be useful not only for journalists and human rights defenders but also for everyone active on social media, broadcasting polarizing messages. Would you go through this training and upgrade your security skills? Or have you already? How useful is it for journalists, and maybe for most people? Share your impressions in the comments!