April 21, 2023

Making it a crime not to censor.

Here's Jonathan Turley in "The Tower for Twitter? UK Minister Calls for Jailing Social Media Bosses Who Do Not Censor Speech":

[A]fter Musk decided to buy Twitter, Hillary Clinton called upon European countries to force social media companies to censor Americans. The European Union quickly responded by threatening Musk and other executives. Now, Technology and Science Secretary Michelle Donelan has announced plans to jail social media executives if they fail to censor so-called “harmful” content on their websites. The government, of course, will determine what is deemed too harmful for citizens to see or hear....

The bill focuses on "'all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred' based on various progressive characteristics, including transgenderism."

48 comments:

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Hillary Clinton - the most evil female on earth.
Greedy - Soviet- Liar.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

"harmful" content is what? Define. What is the criteria?
oh We know - Harmful = anything negative about Hillary, or any global elite corrupt leftists.

rehajm said...

As was written on the post yesterday you’re not really allowed to be shocked by this. My theory is all the cool kids from the United States fly to Davis where they mingle with the other global corruptocrats at the oppressor breakout sessions, where the speakers fail to remind the US contingents about that pesky 1st Amendment thing…

Humperdink said...

As a college student in the late 60's, the evolution of the radicals of that era continues to shock me. Resist authority was their mantra. Now they are in authority and employing the current crop of college students as Mao did with the Red Guard. Even Stevie Wonder could see where the term "hate speech" could lead. It's open season. Anyone see Jane Fonda on the View suggesting murdering the opposition (twice)?

Prepare yourself America for doing without the creature comforts of which you've become accustom. And probably jail for resisting.

who-knew said...

So where exactly in the world is the 'free world'? In England, free speech is a joke. You can get arrested for silent prayer, and apparently the government is ready to impose censorship on social media. In Canada you can have your bank accounts frozen and your ability to earn a living destroyed for participating in non-government approved protests. And in the U.S. you can go to jail for bad meme's while the FBI colludes with social media to suppress true information and undermine a candidate for president. I'm old enough to remember when the so-called Anglo-sphere lead the world in liberty. No more.

Tommy Duncan said...

When we act to ensure the greater good, who gets to define "the greater good"? In Germany it was Hitler. In the USSR it was Stalin. In China it was Mao.

How is it possible that we are able to ignore the 100 million who have died at the hands of the censors?

I guess that any government that can mandate untested vaccines and impractical electric vehicles has the power to mandate how we think.

tommyesq said...

The bill focuses on "'all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred' based on various progressive characteristics, including transgenderism."

They will have to ban all of the trans-pushing teachers on Tik Tok, they certainly incite hatred of the trans community.

narciso said...

of course they lied, hungary is probably the most reasonable,

just as with the communists, their complaint with the czar was they didn't have the power,

Chuck said...

This blog post fails to link us to the actual proposed legislation. Turley's own post doesn't even link to the legislation. He links to The Telegraph, and even there I couldn't find much info on the actual proposal details.

And nowhere does anybody seem to come to grips with the fact this is a proposal coming out of the British Conservative Party. The Tories! I have quite a lot of respect for The Telegraph ("The Torygraph" among Fleet Street observers.) But this is a story with a whole lot more heat than light.

rehajm said...

Davos. It won’t let me type Davos…

Leland said...

If I was Musk, I'd post that if such a law is enacted, it will essentially force a ban of Twitter in the UK.

Cappy said...

Down with Eurasia!

cassandra lite said...

My Brit friends, self-identified liberals all, don't understand our affection for the 1st and 2nd Amendments.

Even after someone in London was arrested for standing on the street and quoting Churchill speeches, they weren't upset. When a maniac was killing random people and the coppers couldn't stop him right away because they weren't carrying guns, they weren't upset.

I'm afraid to ask what they think of this, knowing they'll be secure in the belief that the government has everyone's best interests in mind.

Lewis Wetzel said...

What happens when half the people believe that not censoring political speech is essential to preserve democracy, and half the people believe that not censoring political speech will destroy democracy?

Ampersand said...

Tyrants censor because they need to censor in order to hold onto power.

Bob Boyd said...

Thank God for Donald Trump, eh?
He kept Hillary out of the WH.

Jaq said...

Germany was a liberal democracy when Hitler rose to power. They lost their freedoms one by one, but mostly after a crackdown on the freedom of speech and the rights of the accused after a mysterious fire broke out at the parliament building, which was blamed, without proof, on Hitler’s political opponents.

We Americans pretend like history doesn’t apply to us.

cfs said...

"Hillary Clinton called upon European countries to force social media companies to censor Americans."

Hillary Clinton, the hero of leftist women everywhere. They are STILL upset she wasn't crowned Queen in 2016. And that is why it is so important for Trump to be punished. If democrat women would be honest with themselves, they would admit their hatred for Trump and calls for him to be jailed, all come down to revenge on Hillary's behalf.

MadisonMan said...

Hillary Clinton called upon European countries to force social media companies to censor Americans
Thank God Donald Trump won.

Steven said...

As long as Section 230 immunity is available to companies doing business overseas, it is nothing but a method of importing foreign censorship into the US.

narciso said...

because they too believe in ingsoc,

Wince said...

Chuck said...
This blog post fails to link us to the actual proposed legislation. Turley's own post doesn't even link to the legislation. He links to The Telegraph, and even there I couldn't find much info on the actual proposal details.

Well, Turley does cite the already sad state of free speech in Britain, and certainly it does not seem like liberalization is on the legislative agenda.

The decline of free speech in the United Kingdom has long been a concern for free speech advocates. A man was convicted for sending a tweet while drunk referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for an anti-police t-shirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”

Recently we discussed the arrest of a woman who was praying to herself near an abortion clinic. English courts have seen criminalized “toxic ideologies” as part of this crackdown on free speech.


Chuck said...
And nowhere does anybody seem to come to grips with the fact this is a proposal coming out of the British Conservative Party. The Tories!

Where's your link? Does it matter where bad legislation originates? Technology and Science Secretary Michelle Donelan is not a Tory, is she?

Jaq said...

NATO's Secret Army

https://files.libcom.org/files/NATOs_secret_armies.pdf

Our blessed CIA did terrorist attacks in Europe and blamed them on NATO's political enemies. But the FBI would never instigate something like J6, ensuring that National Guard presence was not there, instantly ready with blame to pour on the guy who didn't want their Ukrainian war, while preventing any unbiased investigation into what actually happened! No, this is America, land of the free, home of the brave.

Can't you just see Superman's cape fluttering in the wind when you read those last couple of lines? Freedom of speech, freedom on intellectual inquiry? Intolerable to the gang of criminal thugs who have taken over the governments in the West, and are in the process of running the whole conglomeration into the ground. Biden is so openly corrupt that they all just must laugh to think of the shit sandwich they are forcing Americans to eat.

Tom T. said...

Here's an article from the Guardian confirming Turley's account. There's a fiction that it's being done to protect children, but the Guardian article shows that it's already being expanded to other topics that Parliament doesn't want the public thinking about.

Tim said...

The proper response to this kind of overreach is for the United States to embargo the United Kingdom. Just forbid all travel, all communications, and all trade with the UK until they regain their sanity. I could make a case for doing this to every country that passes insane laws that give government officials basically unlimited or unchecked powers. It would force the US to become independent again, which would be painful, but probably worth it.

Joe Smith said...

How about we censor our foreign aid and military aid in response?

I'd be OK with that...

England is gone at this point anyway.

It's being invaded by military-age Muslim men.

Not to the extent that our southern border is being breached, but the Brits are even more liberal than our democrats, and are intent on building mosques on every street corner.

Will the last white, Christian citizen to leave please turn out the lights...

Original Mike said...

It has puzzled me that the left doesn't worry about censorship being turned against themselves when they are out of power. I think the answer is they don't expect to be out of power ever again. And they may be right. I fear for where the country will be in fifty years. I'm actually glad I won't be here to see it.

Kevin said...

Big Brother doesn't succeed on his own.

Paul said...

"'all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred' based on various progressive characteristics, including transgenderism."

Define hate.... who gets to define it? If you hate the government is that a crime? Hate taxes? Hate killers? Hate thieves?

See folks... UK is already in 1984!

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

"Thug party" - Democrat Rep. Threatens Independent Journalist Matt Taibbi With Jail Time Over ‘Twitter Files’ Testimony

We are certain all the local leftists like Cook, Inga, Chuck and others are OK with this Soviet Mob anti-free speech anti-freedom tactics... all while real crime is on the rise... right?

Whiskeybum said...

Hillary Clinton hasn't been a US government functionary for 7 years now. How does she get to 'call on' European governments to do anything? What is this shadow government that she and other elites are running? Is she filling in for the inept Biden Administration? Who appointed her?

Rusty said...

Chuck.
Nobody care what you think.
Piss off.

holdfast said...

Maybe they should consider that Elon Musk has more ICBMs than they do. Sure he doesn’t have the nuclear warheads for them, yet. Probably.

CJinPA said...

The bill focuses on "'all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred'

Serious question: Will this ever end if we don't wrestle back the original definition of "hate"?

EVERYONE now knows that allowing the Left to stretch the word "hate" to cover certain speech and crimes was a boon to left-wing politics.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

All of this woke shit is gonna end soon. It's unsustainable. Like keeping 18-year-old marines in a constant state of hyper battle-readiness. Eventually they break and turn on one another.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

One of the benefits of approaching 70 is the ability to take comfort in the idea that I will more than likely be dead when finally the shit hits the fan.

gahrie said...

Maybe they should consider that Elon Musk has more ICBMs than they do. Sure he doesn’t have the nuclear warheads for them, yet. Probably.

KEWs don't need warheads. You could put KEW dispensers in orbit exactly the same way you do Starlink satellites.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The UK’s Conservative Party has gotten woke and gone progressive? Good to know.

John henry said...

StarLink

Musk just removes all Twitter physical presence from England and Europe and sells starlink.

Then, and I think this is a verbatim quote from Musk

"they can shake their fists at the sky"

I

Rusty said...

Free Manure While You Wait! said...
"One of the benefits of approaching 70 is the ability to take comfort in the idea that I will more than likely be dead when finally the shit hits the fan."
I wanna be here for the show.
I hope it's audience participation.

Chuck said...

Wince:
Where's your link? Does it matter where bad legislation originates? Technology and Science Secretary Michelle Donelan is not a Tory, is she?


Well thanks for asking. Now; I understand that Rusty wanted me to, uh, "Piss off." Because "[n]obody care [sic] what [I] think."

But yes Michelle Donelan is a Tory and yes I have a link. in fact I've got a couple of links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Donelan

And then, if you want a readable (if slightly dated) run-through of the Online Safety Bill, Politico did a pretty good one earlier this year. It's a muddle, to be sure. All sorts of mixed alliances, mixed-up motivations, legislative vagaries, unintended consequences... you name it. But it is absolutely working its way through a Tory government, amigo.

https://www.politico.eu/article/online-safety-bill-uk-westminster-politics/"

The current House of Commons is 357 Tory, 197 Labour, 14 Liberal Democrat, 45 Scottish National, and about 40 other stray independent/others.

Michael K said...

Chuck said...
And nowhere does anybody seem to come to grips with the fact this is a proposal coming out of the British Conservative Party. The Tories!


After Boris went greenie it doesn't matter anymore.

Saint Croix said...

And nowhere does anybody seem to come to grips with the fact this is a proposal coming out of the British Conservative Party. The Tories! I have quite a lot of respect for The Telegraph ("The Torygraph" among Fleet Street observers.) But this is a story with a whole lot more heat than light.

Chuck

you dumb fuck

you're shit out of luck

you imagine nobody would ever jail your ass

after all, you can always pass!

but they'll arrest you anyway

for all the damn shit you say

every day

John henry said...

Hold fast,

Ever read "the moon is a harsh mistress"? The earth is at the bottom of a gravity well from the moon.

Musk could just throw big rocks at England.

He does not need nukes.

Or a "rod from God" . President Trump used one of these (maybe) in 2017 to obliterate noko's nuclear capability.

John Henry

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Hashtag #️⃣ At any other time this would be big news.

NMObjectivist said...

What about hatred based on one's conservative view? I guess that wouldn't be covered.

ken in tx said...

The last white Christian Brit should not just turn out the lights, but take down the flag which contains the cross of St George, the cross of St Andrew, and the saltire of St Patrick.

Old and slow said...

Of course she is a Tory. She is a minister in a Tory government. So fucking what? Tory wets are supposed to be the natural allies of American non-leftists? The only Tory I'm interested in these days is Jacob Rees Mog. He is impressive. In Europe and the UK, there is nothing even resembling a conservative political party that is not labeled "hard right" or fascist.