Clubhouse: A Haven for Free Speech or a New Platform for Digital Authoritarianism?
Stephanie Dandelé, Online Staff Writer
March 28, 2021
Clubhouse, an invite only audio-based app, has recently become popular throughout the Middle East as a space where individuals can discuss a variety of topics freely. Chat rooms are set up that discuss topics such as politics, sexuality, identity, religion, racism, and the government, all of which may be too taboo or controversial to discuss in other forums. Yet based on the details of the app's privacy policy, and under the surveillance of local governments, the app may quickly turn into a dangerous space for users.
Clubhouse’s privacy policy consists of very loose promises and lacks guarantees regarding users privacy rights. Upon signing up, Clubhouse collects your name, number, device information, location, IP address, and your activity within the app. Additionally, the app records all the audio from the chat rooms which they claim is only kept in case a user reports an incident within a chat room. Clubhouse’s privacy policy states that the app may share information it has collected with local authorities “if required to do so by law … including to meet national security or law-enforcement requirements” without the individual users knowledge
The privacy policy also maintains that users “agree to comply with all local rules and laws regarding your use of the service, including as it concerns online conduct and acceptable content”, which will vary drastically between regions given the international scope of the app. There is an explicit contradiction between the ideas of the app as a free speech haven and this policy. As Marwa Fatafta, the Middle East and North Africa policy manager at Access Now stated: “laws in the [Middle East] are repressive, vague and broadly worded in a way that governments can – and do – interpret any sort of online speech and activity to prosecute activists, journalists, human rights defenders, or any ordinary citizen that has an unfavourable view of the regime”.
With the likely potential of governments monitoring the use of the app, there may be serious repercussions for individuals partaking in free speech online. In Egypt, a pro-government news channel claimed that it had uncovered and recorded a “terrorist” network through monitoring and recording chat rooms, however, the group appeared to have been participating in dissident activities which may not have been reflective of the “terrorist” aims the news channel was claiming. The recording of chat rooms is not allowed on the app, yet Clubhouse admits they “cannot control the actions of users on the platform who may seek the use of third-party apps or devices to record, store, or share content” with others, without the consent of those being recorded which poses serious privacy issues.
However, there are also cases where Clubhouse has fulfilled its role as a free speech haven such as in Saudi Arabia where Amani al-Ahmadi, as US-based Saudi-American activist, said that “Clubhouse is thriving because there’s a plethora of Saudi intellectuals interested in debating multiple topics that could be considered taboo or censored in the public realm.” Subsequently, Clubhouse has become the most popular app within the social media category in Saudi Arabia. Turkish activists have also had success with the app as it was utilized to transmit information from a protest opposing the newly appointed rector chosen by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Through Clubhouse, within an hour a chat consisting of 5,000 people was created that provided real-time information about the police raid and arrests. Officials in Turkey have also utilized the app, joining chat rooms to respond to questions from the public. Officials include the former Turkish Prime Minister who engaged with a group of 2,000 users as well as ministers from the ruling party.
Despite these positive instances, some governments see platforms prompting free speech as a threat and seek to control them as China has recently done with Clubhouse. Chinese citizens using the app as a platform to openly discuss issues such as Beijing’s treatment of Uighurs, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests inexplicably had their access to the app blocked by the government in early February 2021. The sudden removal of access to Clubhouse took away a platform which allowed uncensored discussions on politics and human rights in the region.
Certain countries in the Middle East may await the same outcome as China because of governmental similarities. Authoritarian governments that aim to restrict freedom of speech and access to the media may only keep access to Clubhouse open because of the possible action they are able to take on users who do not conform to their ideals due to Clubhouse’s lax privacy policy. In order to ensure that the app remains a beneficial platform for users to express freedom of speech, Clubhouse’s privacy rights need to better protect its users from unjust harm and retaliation by their local governments.