Mark Steyn Was Right, You Know.
Americans’ constitutional right to free speech is under serious attack by governments once thought to be guardians of the Western Canon and human rights recognized for generations. If these countries want to punish our social media companies then we should place severe tariffs on them, let the Devil take the hindmost and include all the members of the European Union.
Global Crackdown: How Foreign Censorship Threatens American Free Speech
Although litigation, congressional oversight efforts, and reportage led by the Twitter Files have helped expose the U.S. government’s efforts to pressure social media companies to censor protected political speech, the recent rumblings from Europe underscore the escalating challenges American-based social media platforms are facing from foreign authorities – not just from repressive regimes such as China and Iran, but also from the EU, the U.K., Brazil, and other democracies.
Free speech advocates warn that foreign demands that tech companies comply with their censorious legal and regulatory standards that violate the First Amendment’s protections will hamper the ability of Americans to communicate freely in the digital public square. Facebook’s Community Standards, for example, “apply to everyone, all around the world.” Academics have termed the tendency of companies to apply the strictest local guidelines globally as the “Brussels Effect.”Mike Benz, a former State Department cyber official and executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, argues that foreign efforts to cast populist narratives on matters such as election integrity, immigration, and public health as mis- and dis-information constitute a surreptitious “transatlantic flank attack” on American speech.
and,
The U.S. government has used the FBI and the State Department, among other agencies, to coordinate counter-disinformation efforts globally with other nations. The goal is said to build “a more resilient global information system, where objective facts are elevated and deceptive messages gain less traction,” in the words of Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
As a State Department spokesman told RealClearInvestigations, “The United States is committed to advancing a rights-respecting approach to technology that mitigates potential harms while maintaining the free and open use of digital platforms.”
“We are concerned by actions to limit access to information anywhere in the world,” the spokesman added.
as the rise of totalitarian thuggery reveals its ugly face,
The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act serves as a likely legal basis for Rowley’s remarks. Starting in 2025, the U.K.’s regulator, Ofcom, will be able to charge firms up to 10% of their global annual revenues should they fail to “take robust action” against content that includes “racially or religiously aggravated public order offences,” “inciting violence” – or apparently even raising concerns about “illegal immigration.”
In September, U.K. officials held talks with X regarding “the spread of misinformation and other harmful content,” according to a CNBC report, as it had other platforms, following calls by one lawmaker to summon Musk for questions before parliament.
Australia, too, recently indicated it will fine platforms up to 5% of their global revenue should they fail to prevent the spread of “misinformation” online, specifically around elections and public health.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.