#TheWeeklyRoundUp - 19.05.23

US Supreme Court Hands A Major Section 230 Victory to Tech Giants Alphabet, Meta, & Twitter (digital music news)

The Supreme Court hands Big Tech a win via Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It means social media companies aren’t liable for the content their users post.

Section 230 was defined in 1996, when the internet was still in its infancy. It paved the way for an open internet, but it has also surfaced questions about a platform’s liabilities when users are sharing hateful content or their platforms are used as recruiting tools by terrorist organizations. Justices considered two lawsuits in which families of terrorist attack victims suggested Google and Twitter should be held liable for their relatives’ death in a terrorist attack.

Google said Section 230 of the CDA protects it from being liable on all claims. Rather than decide the merits of the Section 230 protections, the justices found that neither company had any liability to need the protections. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for a unanimous court decision that in the Twitter case, the plaintiff’s allegations fell “far short of plausibly alleging that defendants aided and abetted the Reina attack.”

The Twitter case involved Nawras Alassaf’s family suing the company after Alassaf and 38 people died in a nightclub terrorist attack in 2017 in Istanbul. The family accused Twitter of not taking action against accounts used by ISIS to recruit new militants to its cause.

The case against Google involved the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a U.S. citizen killed in a terrorist attack in Paris. They sued Google over ISIS recruitment videos and pro-terrorist content videos on YouTube.

“We think it sufficient to acknowledge that much (if not all) of plaintiffs’ complaint seems to fall under either our decision in Twitter or the Ninth Circuit’s unchallenged holdings below,” reads the court’s unsigned opinion in the Google case. “We therefore decline to address the application of §230 to a complaint that appears to state little, if any, plausible claim for relief.”

“Countless companies, scholars, content creators, and civil society organizations who joined with us, in this case, will be reassured by the result,” adds Google’s general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado. “We’ll continue our work to safeguard free expression online, combat harmful content, and support businesses and creators who benefit from the internet.”

Both decisions leave the legal battle over the scope of Section 230 unresolved. The tech industry argues that the provision is necessary to continue providing a service for users where content is uploaded and hosted on company servers.

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CollaboNation 2023 Artists in Studio Ahead of Debut at MTN Bushfire (SA music news & entertainment)

Earlier this year, House On Fire announced the official 2023 CollaboNation artists as Thobile Makhoyane (Eswatini) X The Hood Brodz (Mozambique), and Mokoomba (Zimbabwe) X Morena Leraba (Lesotho).

After weeks of planning and online collaboration, the artists were recently in studio to record their songs. The first recording session with Mokoomba and Morena Leraba commenced in Harare on Monday 1 May, and was followed soon after by Thobile and The Hood Brodz who recorded in Maputo, Mozambique. Each recording pair was hosted in-studio for 2 days to create their unique collaborative song, which will also have a music video filmed and produced documenting the live song performances that will take place at the upcoming MTN Bushfire Festival held in Eswatini from 26 – 28 May 2023.

This exciting new step in the CollaboNation process brings to life the project goals of connecting and uniting the region through unique music collaborations whilst building linkages between cultural industries and networks. The aim is to extend the reach of Southern African artists, exposing them to new audiences, media, promoters and other industry professionals, in order to access new markets and communities while developing artist brands.

Since the artist announcements, the teams have been hard at work in their own studios and connecting online in order to prepare for their time in studio. These exciting preparations were documented.

The production of the reels and the final CollaboNation videos also provide a skills training and development opportunity, with award-winning production house and long-time MTN Bushfire videography team Makhulu Media mentoring Eswatini owned and based Motion Skies Pictures.

The CollaboNation Artists

Thobile Makhoyane: Hailing from the mountainous Kingdom of eSwatini, Thobile Makhoyane’s musical sorcery finds her melding influences from home and abroad under her ‘hypno-rock’ rubric – her imposing vocals floating divinely over acoustic sounds and a live band often comprising a mix of traditional and western instruments. Thobile names golden African voices Jabu Khanyile, Smiles Makama, Busi Mhlongo, Suthukazi Arosi, Youssou N’Dour and Oumou Sangaré among her key influences.

The Hood Brodz: The Hood Brodz is a DJ/Producer duo hailing from Maputo, Mozambique. Ayrton and younger brother Hélio have been working together since 2011, releasing many songs on international labels in South Africa, France, Dubai and Angola, and more, as well as establishing their mark on the Mozambican music landscape. They draw their inspiration from their ‘hood in Maputo, Bairro Trevo.

Makoomba: Mokoomba, an explosively talented six-man crew from the Victoria Fall, has been hailed as one of the most exciting band from Africa in the 21st century! With over 40 countries and prestigious international festivals under their belt, they performed at the world’s biggest festivals and venues, Sziget, Roskilde, North Sea Jazz, New York’s Apollo Theater, New Orleans Jazz and many more.

Morena Leraba: Teboho Mochaoa, known commonly by his stage name Morena Leraba, is a Lesotho-born singer and rapper. He mainly uses traditional seSotho lyrics and combines them with Electro, Afro-House and Hip Hop. His lyrics are deeply rooted in Lesotho’s traditional music, poetry, and its sub-genre, Famo.

About CollaboNation

CollaboNation is funded by the Sound Connects Fund, an initiative by the Music In Africa Foundation (MIAF) and Goethe-Institut. The Sound Connects Fund is made possible with funding from the ACP-EU Culture Programme, a project implemented by the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and funded by the European Union (EU). The Fund is also co-funded by Goethe-Institut and Siemens Stiftung.

This first edition of the CollaboNation project invited artists from Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, giving them the opportunity to collaborate with each other by recording original and inspirational songs. Future CollaboNation editions will be expanded to include more countries in Africa and beyond, with the eventual aim of arranging collaborations between African artists and those from other continents, creating a truly global interchange of cultures and musical styles.

Follow these two amazing collaborative journeys with in-studio vids, artist reels, and other audio and visual releases leading up to MTN Bushfire 2023 and the subsequent music video release.