Recent headlines:

More details on these and other stories can now be found on the new Virtually Islamic blog:

OpenDemocracy.net, “I’d prefer to die in Poland”: Chechnya’s most famous YouTuber in exile faces deportation to Russia 

Said Temsamani, Eurasia Review, Morocco: Interactive Radio, TV And Social Media To Enhance True Values Of Islam – OpEd  

Hadith centred programme promoted by Moroccan King Mohammed VI.  

Jamie Prentis, The National, Russian trolls stoked UK hatred of Islam after terrorist attacks, 1 Nov 2018 

amaliah, #ProtectYoungHijabis the Hashtag Formed to Protect Over 900 Young Muslim Women From One Sexual Predator 

albawaba.com, Do Arab Governments Control Arabic-Language Twitter?

C.J. Werleman, alaraby.com, How do white Muslims experience Islamophobia? Social media linkage to this interesting article/opinion piece.
 

"I'm white and English. I've never faced racism in my life. I became a Muslim, then people would hurl abuse as I was no longer white," tweeted Christopher John George. "I never knew how bad it felt until I was on the other side… it is DISGUSTING."

"His tweet illuminates not only how Islamophobia is a virulent form of racism, but also narrates an untold story of the Muslim experience in western societies today - the story of how white converts to Islam are now considered by some racists as traitors to their race."  

University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UWTSD Academic focusses on Islam in cyberspace with new book release

"An international publication focussing on how cyber-Islamic environments are transforming religious authority has been released by a UWTSD Lampeter based academic."

Louis Witter, Middle East Eye, Morocco’s entrepreneurs go digital: 'It is like a new world' "Trying to catch up with a fast-growing digital world, Moroccan entrepreneurs are hoping to leapfrog into a new era of tech business"

The Skype sex scam - a fortune built on shame

BBC News, The Skype sex scam - a fortune built on shame "One night a young Palestinian man living abroad fell victim to an online scam, involving a web camera and a beautiful woman. Here Samir (not his real name) tells the story of how he was trapped - and below the BBC's Reda el Mawy visits the Moroccan boomtown where many of the scammers are based."

More -- not less -- religion needed to fight extremism, imam director says

PBS, More -- not less -- religion needed to fight extremism, imam director says
 
This PBS report refers to the importance of internet training for imams (from Mali), and discusses the impact of onine religious authority.

'Terrorists Exploit Social Networks'

Magharebia, Imrane Binoual, eurasiareview.com, Terrorists Exploit Social Networks "Videos, audio recordings, messages and speeches from terrorist organisations blanket YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Maghreb extremists have embraced the virtual arena, using online networks to attract recruits and spread propaganda."

New and Noted: paper re. gaps in SMS use in Berber communities

Leslie L. Dodson, S. Revi Sterling, John K. Bennett, Minding the gaps: Minding the gaps: cultural, technical and gender-based barriers to mobile use in oral-language Berber communities in Morocco, Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development: Full Papers - Volume 1, Pages 79-88 "The proliferation of text-based applications in the Mobiles for Development (M4D) domain tends to privilege the conventional wisdom that texting is a ubiquitous skill among mobile phone users. This view obscures many real and present barriers to using SMS and mobile features, most critically where low literate and/or oral language-dependent communities cannot rely on text as a viable communications system. This paper investigates mobile "utility gaps" -- the spaces between high rates of mobile phone ownership and low use of productive features on mobile phones."

Teens arrested in Morocco after picture of kiss is posted on Facebook

Teens arrested in Morocco after picture of kiss is posted on Facebook - Africa - World - The Independent

Update: alarabiya.net, Morocco frees teens held for Facebook kissing photos

'The Fatwa Show'

John Thorne, Christian Science Monitor, 'The Fatwa Show': Moroccan journalist tells clerics to just have some fun, 10 April 2013

"'The Fatwa Show' satirizes Islamic legal opinions, and is one of the most popular features on the new Arab world news and commentary website Free Arabs."

You'll find a brief quote from myself in this article.

Morocco

Mohammad El-Ashab, Morocco and the terrorist threat, Asharq Alawsat/alarabiya.net, 30 Dec 2010 "When technology and violence come together, this simply leads to the formation of a cell of a kind officially described as “cyberterrorist” in Morocco. And although the advanced communication media revolution was meant to be at the service of civil society, as it shortens distances between worlds and brings closer the branches of knowledge and the features of civilized interaction between nations, what has been termed cybercrime today keeps sleepless all the societies that have been scorched by the transcontinental fire of terrorism."

Maroc Telecom

Bikya Masr, Maroc Telecom reports $470 mil earnings, 17 Nov 2010 "Morocco’s largest telecommunications company Maroc Telecom reported consolidated earnings during the third quarter this year to over $740 million, up 6.6 percent from the same period last year."

Morocco "ICT pioneer"

Adnan Kassar, globalarabnetwork.com, North Africa - Morocco, ICT pioneer in Maghreb region, 2 Oct 2010 "Morocco is a pioneer in the Maghreb region in terms of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), said , in Zurich, Jean-Pierre Labry, Managing Director of R&M Middle East and Africa, underlining that despite being ahead of many countries, Morocco always seeks to develop its infrastructure and avail itself of the best expertise in the field." Advertorial

Morocco internet dialogue

Siham Ali and Naoufel Cherkaoui, magharebia.com, Morocco prepares dialogue on online media's future "Shaping Morocco's online media in fields such as ethics, funding and legal protections will top the agenda of a Monday (April 26th) parliamentary workshop for journalists and law-makers.

""We want professionals to work together to come up with solutions, particularly in terms of getting the authorities to encourage online publishing, providing financing like they do for the traditional media," Rachid Jankari, the director of MIT Media and a workshop organiser, told Magharebia."

Arab Tweeple

ArabCrunch, ArabTweeple: A Directory for Arab Twitter Users Indexing 15,000 Arab Users, 10 Apr 2010 "Looking to meet fellow Arabs on Twitter, ArabTweeple is the place to go as it Index 15,000 Arab twitter users."

Maroc Telecom

globalarabnetwork.com, $1.15 billion Maroc Telecom income in 2009, 25 Feb 2010 "Maroc Telecom, the Moroccan phone and internet company controlled by Vivendi SA, said its 2009 net earnings fell to 9.42 billion dirhams ($1.15 billion) adding that its consolidated revenue rose 2.8 % to 30.34 billion dirhams. "

Morocco

Brian Whitaker, al-Bab, Moroccan internet 'crimes', 16 Dec 09 "A blogger and the owner of an internet cafe have been jailed in Morocco."

Morocco: blogger arrest

meedan.net, Moroccan blogger arrested for publishing a statement on student protests, 15 Dec 09 "The Moroccan authorities have arrested blogger Al-Bashir Hezzam after he published a statement on student protests in the area of Tarjijt in southern Morocco."

Google Morocco Hacked

Techcrunch, Hackers Temporarily Seize Control Of Google Morocco Domain Name, 9 May 09 "Google.co.ma, the domain name for Google Morocco’s search portal, was taken hostage by hackers earlier today reportedly for several hours before the problem got fixed (it’s working fine again now)."

Morocco

Earth Times, Gay rights remain a taboo in Morocco - Feature, 1 Apr 2009 includes reference to the internet and various online discussions.

Morocco

VOA News, Moroccan Court Jails 45 People for Terrorist Plot, 18 Oct 08 "A Moroccan court has sentenced 45 people to jail terms of up to 30 years for plotting terrorist attacks in the country's largest city, Casablanca." Relates to a bombing of an internet cafe in 07

Morocco

earthtimes.org, Morocco's king launches offensive against radical Islam - Feature, 10 Oct 08 "The new reform establishes 69 regional or provincial councils of ulemas to guarantee "spiritual security" and to preserve the "tolerant Sunni Islam" that is part of the "Moroccan identity," as King Mohammed said.

"The councils are to update the training of imams, whose medical benefits and living standards will also be improved, alongside those of other mosque personnel.

"A separate council of ulemas will watch over the more than 3 million Moroccans living abroad, whose situation as immigrants is seen as making them particularly vulnerable to extremism."