The Pentagon dismissed an attack on its social media sites Monday as “cybervandalism,” hitting back at an aggressive effort by supporters of the Islamic State to wrest control of Twitter and YouTube accounts belonging to U.S. Central Command.

For diplomats and diplomatic institutions, social media has become an important working tool as it enables them to gather and disseminate information throughout the diplomatic milieu in real time.

If 9/11 made global viewers of us, the massacre in Paris was the moment when online media was where readers gathered.

Following the attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead Wednesday in Paris, Twitter users around the world showed their solidarity using the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie, or “I am Charlie.” As of this writing, the hashtag has been used 3.7 million times.

After the attack on the French satirical weekly newspaperCharlie Hebdo that left 12 dead and 5 injured, Twitter comments are pouring in from around the world.  Many take the form of one of the magazine’s specialties, cartoons.

Governments around the world are using stealthy strategies to manipulate the media.  Censorship is flourishing in the information age. In theory, new technologies make it more difficult, and ultimately impossible, for governments to control the flow of information.