Today, governments take an aggressive hand in shutting down digital channels people use to organize against them. In Egypt, for example, where 26 million people are on Facebook (up from 4.7 million people in 2011), security forces arrested three people who administered nearly two dozen Facebook pages, according to Egyptian media reports. It also detained activists who had been involved in prior protests. And at the end of December, the government shut down Facebook's Free Basics service, which had offered free Internet services to Egyptians on mobile phones. More than 3 million people had signed up for the program in just two months, according to Facebook. Meanwhile Turkey has made 805 requests for tweets to be removed since 2012, according to Twitter's most recent transparency report; more than half were made last year.

Question

Which quotations from the excerpt provide evidence to support the claim that governments have responded to criticism delivered through social media? Select three options.

“Security forces arrested three people who administered nearly two dozen Facebook pages.”
“It [Egypt] also detained activists who had been involved in prior protests.”
“Facebook’s Free Basics service . . . had offered free Internet services to Egyptians on mobile phones.”
“More than 3 million people had signed up for the program in just two months.”
“Meanwhile Turkey has made 805 requests for tweets to be removed since 2012.”

Answer 1

The three quotations that provide evidence to support the claim that governments have responded to criticism delivered through social media are:

1. “Security forces arrested three people who administered nearly two dozen Facebook pages.”
2. “It [Egypt] also detained activists who had been involved in prior protests.”
3. “Meanwhile Turkey has made 805 requests for tweets to be removed since 2012.”

These quotations illustrate the actions taken by governments in response to activists and criticisms communicated through social media platforms.