The German government has published a draft law that will impose huge fines (up to €50m) on social networks that fail promptly to remove hate speech, fake news and other undesirable content from their platforms.
This free speech thing, they really don’t get it, do they? And “fake” news seems to be whatever the left or the authorities find inconvenient. Besides, opinion doesn’t have to be accurate as it is, after all, opinion. “Undesirable” can constitute pretty much whatever you want it to, hence the whole idea of fining these sites is chilling.
Stand by for howls of outrage from said companies, free speech advocates and political activists, together with conspiracy theories about how this is yet another example of anti-American lobbying by Springer and other European publishers.
Well, yes, I’m howling because it is an egregious assault on free speech. That whole free speech thing means you get to say whatever you want without being fined or imprisoned by the state (existing laws on libel and defamation not withstanding). When you have laws such as this, self-censorship becomes the norm and an exchange of views becomes impossible. It is, indeed, evil. The people behind it are, indeed, evil.
As readers of this column will know, companies such as Facebook and Google have grown and prospered courtesy of a single clause in an obscure corner of the US legal code that enables them to pretend they are just conduits along which information flows from one point to another, and thus have no responsibility for the content that streams through their servers.
That is precisely what they are. They are vehicles, nothing more. They are not responsible – and nor should they be – for the content unless it is specifically illegal – libel, incitement and such. Otherwise, fuck off already.
But there are also some compelling public interest arguments against treating social media companies as if they were conventional publishers. In particular, there is the vexed issue of freedom of speech and the dangers of outsourcing judgments about what is acceptable – and what is not – to private organisations.
Ah, yes, the old “acceptable” bullshit again. What is acceptable to you may not be acceptable to me and it is irrelevant. It is up to the reader to draw his own conclusions and check if necessary for accuracy. That’s what grown ups do. What we don’t need is more law restricting ever further our freedom to express ourselves, no matter how repugnant those views might be to others. The whole point of free speech is that we get to see it and hear it and respond in kind should we so wish – not for the state to intervene and punish on our behalf, for that is the road to totalitarianism.
So what to do?
Nothing. Yes, really; nothing at all.
That leaves only so-called fake news. And the problem with that is not so much the internet as the gullibility, credulity and sheer stupidity of mankind.
Indeed. Especially those morons who, failing to learn from the past, insist upon policing and punishing thought-crime.
@LR
Agree with all you wrote.
However, continental Europe doesn’t believe in free speech eg:
chap in Holland jailed for breaking law prohibiting critisim/mocking/insulting Royalty
German comedian charged – with approval of Merkel – for mocking/insulting a politician (Erdogan)
Very difficult for Anglo countries’ residents to understand their deranged Laws. Jesus (on purpose), RoI had similar laws re RC church until quite recently. Father Ted was not liked by many in RoI – blasphemy.
Certainly in Germany. But that’s nothing new. Enforcing the fines might be a bit more difficult for the smaller social networks like Minds.com. Unlike Google & Facebook, they have no German vulnerability.
Bit off topic, but I’d like to use my free speech to state that I’m disappointed Martin McGuinness has died at 66, I wish the utter piece of filth had died at 6, then a lot of innocent people would not have died at the hands of this murderous scumbag. My only hope is that Gerry Adams falls into his grave and is buried alive.
True “Free Speech” terrifies Governments and all who serve in them.
That is why the fight (and it is a fight) to retain our right to true Free Speech is retained. The internet is the last bastion of free speech and that is why Governments all over the world are seeking to control what appears there.
I learned very early on the internet was just a bus that takes someone to a destination, yet despite the nameboard it ends up taking you round the houses until you finally end up at Wet T Shirt Competitors pictures.
You haven’t got to the final stop until you get to the cat pictures.