Ecuador's Communications Secretariat (Secom [4]) on Sept. 25 officially halted proceedings to shut down [5] the free-speech advocacy organization Fundamedios [6]. Secretary Fernando Alvarado said he was complying with a recommendation from Ecudaor's official rights ombudsman, the Defensoría del Pueblo [7], whose chief Ramiro Rivadeneira had four days earlier called on the government to drop the proceedings. But the move follows revelations that Ecuador's National Intelliegnce Secretariat (SENAIN [8]) spent $47 million in public funds to contract the firm Emerging MC [9] to purge YouTube and other social media of material critical of President Rafael Correa. (AP [10], The Verge [11], Sept. 25; BuzzFeed [12], ElSalvador.com [13], Sept. 24; EFE [14], Sept. 21)
