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by Judith Bergman • September 30,
2018 at 5:00 am
- Even before such
EU-wide legislation, similar ostensible "anti-terror
legislation" in France, for example, is being used as a
political tool against political opponents and to limit
unwanted free speech.
- In France, simply
spreading information about ISIS atrocities is now considered
"incitement to terrorism". It is this kind of
legislation, it seems, that the European Commission now wishes
to impose on all of the European Union.
- Social media giants
-- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Microsoft, Google+ and
Instagram -- act as voluntary censors on behalf of the
European Union.
- The European
Commission states that it is specifically interested in
funding projects that focus on the "development of
technology and innovative web tools preventing and countering
illegal hate speech online and supporting data
collection", and studies that analyze "the spread of
racist and xenophobic hate speech in different Member
States..."
The
European Union seems fixated, at least for the internet, on killing
free speech. And social media giants -- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
Microsoft, Google+ and Instagram -- act as voluntary censors on
behalf of the EU. (Image source: iStock)
In March, the European Commission -- the unelected
executive branch of the European Union -- told social media
companies to remove illegal online terrorist content within an hour
-- or risk facing EU-wide legislation on the topic. This ultimatum
was part of a new set of recommendations that applies to all forms
of supposedly "illegal content" online. This content
ranges "from terrorist content, incitement to hatred and
violence, child sexual abuse material, counterfeit products and
copyright infringement."
While the one-hour ultimatum was ostensibly only
about terrorist content, the following is how the European
Commission presented the new recommendations at the time:
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