Free Speech Crumbles in Europe
Imagine this scenario.
The interior minister of a country that considers itself a democracy reports hundreds of citizens to the police for making critical statements about her while she is in office. Many of them are given hefty monetary fines or even prison sentences.
In protest, a journalist publishes a satirical meme. It features a real photograph of the interior minister holding a sign that is digitally altered so that, apocryphally, it reads: “I hate freedom of speech.”
Fewer People Support Censoring False Information Online
The percentage of Americans who think the government should "take steps to restrict false information online" is shrinking.
According to new data from the Pew Research Center, Americans are losing patience for the idea that the government should censor in the name of stopping misinformation.
Pew also found decreasing support for the idea that tech companies should make such efforts on their own.
Rubio: To Protect Free Speech, The Censorship-Industrial Complex Must Be Dismantled
During his historic comeback campaign in 2024, President Trump vowed to close the book on a dark chapter in America’s constitutional history: the weaponization of America’s own government to silence, censor, and suppress the free speech of ordinary Americans. The American people responded to this promise by giving President Trump a landslide victory last November.
Whistleblower tells Senate committee that Meta undermined US national security to cozy up to China
A whistleblower on Wednesday told congressional lawmakers that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and other executives lied to Congress as Meta actively tried to help China develop artificial intelligence in an effort to win favor with Beijing.
X sues Modi's government over content removal in new India censorship fight
India's IT ministry has unlawfully expanded censorship powers to allow the easier removal of online content and empowered "countless" government officials to execute such orders, Elon Musk's X has alleged in a new lawsuit against New Delhi.
The lawsuit and the allegations mark an escalation in an ongoing legal dispute between X and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government over how New Delhi orders content to be taken down. It also comes as Musk is getting closer to launching his other key ventures Starlink and Tesla in India.
60 Minutes’ German Censorship Segment: A Recycled NYT Report?
FTC investigates “tech censorship,” says it’s un-American and may be illegal
The Federal Trade Commission today announced a public inquiry into alleged censorship online, saying it wants "to better understand how technology platforms deny or degrade users' access to services based on the content of their speech or affiliations, and how this conduct may have violated the law." "Tech firms should not be bullying their users," said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, who was chosen by President Trump to lead the commission. "This inquiry will help the FTC better understand how these firms may have violated the law by silencing and intimidating...
Germany is prosecuting online trolls. Here's how the country is fighting hate speech on the internet.
Dozens of police teams across Germany raided homes before dawn in a coordinated crackdown on a recent Tuesday. The state police weren't looking for drugs or guns, they were looking for people suspected of posting hate speech online.
Guest On ’60 Minutes’ Claims German Citizens Have Free Speech — ‘But There Are Limits’
A guest on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” attempted to claim on Sunday’s broadcast that despite reports of pre-dawn raids and the confiscation of electronics, German citizens really do enjoy free speech — until they say something that law enforcement interprets as “hate speech.”
Dr. Matthäus Fink sat down with host Sharyn Alfonsi to discuss the topic, and he explained how the recent raids had played out.
“What’s the typical reaction when the police show up at somebody’s door and they say, ‘Hey, we believe you wrote this on the internet’?” Alfonsi asked.
Bills Aim To Stop Big Tech, Big Government From Silencing Speech Again
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., was among the first to see evidence of what many Americans suspected: Big Tech colluding with the Biden administration to silence speech. Now he’s reintroducing legislation to hold government bureaucrats and social media giants accountable for their sins of omission.