Which one were you?
Tag: free speech
Poland to fine social media giants $2.2m every time they censor free speech
A new law is due to be passed in Poland that would fine Big Tech firms a staggering $2.2 million every time they unconstitutionally censor lawful free speech online.
While liberal governments in western nations seek to fine social media giants Facebook and Twitter for failing to remove so-called “hate speech,” Poland is taking a refreshingly different approach.
“Under its provisions, social media services will not be allowed to remove content or block accounts if the content on them does not break Polish law.”
“In the event of removal or blockage, a complaint can be sent to the platform, which will have 24 hours to consider it.”
“Within 48 hours of the decision, the user will be able to file a petition to the court for the return of access. The court will consider complaints within seven days of receipt and the entire process is to be electronic.”
Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro made clear that the legal initiative was designed to fight censorship.
“Cancel Culture” Decimating Free Speech At World’s Leading Universities
A study by leading education focused think tank Civitas has found that free speech at the world’s leading universities is being eroded at an alarming rate owing to the rise of “cancel culture”.
The study found that within the past three years, more than 68 per cent of universities in the UK have seen free speech severely restricted, with academics unable to meaningfully discuss the nuances of issues such as race and gender.
The report notes that universities including Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews, three of the world’s premiere institutions are among those that have fallen into a “red” category for free speech following instances of “no platforming” of scheduled speakers.
The study warns that the situation has gotten so severe that it requires government legislation to stop campus censorship at 48 universities, the equivalent of at least 35 per cent of institutions.
QAnon Legal Battle Against YouTube Could Transform Free Speech Online
The welding of American politics with social media may be the defining moment of a sea change that is taking place at the very top echelons of power in the United States and the world. In the run-up to the 2020 U.S. elections, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all revealed their inescapable ties to the establishment when they launched an information warfare campaign against their own users and content creators in a bid to shape perceptions and control national discourse on the government’s behalf.
As the most contentious election in living memory drags on days after the vote, itself, the massive purge of profiles and content deemed politically dangerous carried out by the most popular social media platforms just over two weeks before Election Day, went practically unnoticed by everyone other than those who were actually de-platformed and their followers.
In mid-October, Google-owned YouTube and other social media giants purged the accounts of the most popular QAnon channels, spurring a class-action lawsuit against the video streaming platform filed in the Northern District of California later that month.
Rob Schneider on free speech…
Frederick Douglass on free speech…
“Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants.”
Frederick Douglass
Obama: The internet is “the single biggest threat to our democracy”
Back in 2008, Barack Obama famously harnessed the internet and social media to help win the White House. He kept up the embrace once he got there.
Now he worries that the internet and social media have helped create “the single biggest threat to our democracy.”
Obama has been saying a version of this for four years — since he left the White House — but his words are getting steadily more pointed. He’s clearly sounding an alarm, but it’s not exactly clear what he thinks we should do about it.
The National Association of REALTORS® to start policing private lives of members.
The newly Woke National Association of REALTORS® has long had requirements that you behave in a professional manner while on the job.
“The recommendations propose a new Standard of Practice, 10-5, that states: ‘REALTORS® must not use harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”
Sure, a list like that can be problematic, but at least now it only applies TO YOUR ENTIRE LIFE.
“Additionally, the recommendations propose changes to professional standards policy to expand the Code of Ethics’ applicability to all of a REALTOR®’s activities, not just those that are real estate–related.”
Their speech codes no longer only apply to real-estate related activity but also to everything-related activity as well. What if your activities include being active in your church and your faith is at odds with current progressive orthodoxy?
Why, it’s almost as if the NAR’s rules prohibiting discrimination against someone for their religious beliefs themselves discriminate against people for their religious beliefs. This suggests the motive here might be something other than being anti-discriminatory.
Which reminds me, you know why the NAR is really excited about these new rules?
“We have this amazing ad campaign that says ‘That’s Who We R,’ ” Difanis said, which includes being leaders and role models in the community, ‘and this is who we need to be.'”
Whatever it takes to get that “SOLD!” sign!
Of course, we all have to remember that this is not a government or state actor enforcing a law. It’s merely a private organization with great cache, they are America’s largest trade association after all. They hold enormous sway over state licensing boards requiring that you behave in a manner they prefer ALL the time. If you don’t comply with the new speech codes, you risk being reported as a bigot to your state licensing board which determines whether or not you can continue to work as a real estate agent.
“As a result, associations would be required to share with the state real estate licensing authority final ethics decisions holding REALTORS® in violation of the Code of Ethics in instances where there is reason to believe the public trust, as expanded by the proposed revision, may have been violated.”
But it’s not like that’s censorship or anything.
That would be wrong.
“Discussions started in the wake of nationwide social unrest after the death of George Floyd and after local, state, and national REALTOR® associations fielded an ‘unprecedented’ number of complaints about members posting hate speech on social media.”
Work as a real estate agent? Watch what you say because they can search your social media accounts going back three years should there ever be an alleged infraction.
But this is not censorship, okay? Stop thinking that.
Hmm, maybe we can discipline you for that, too.
Speaking freely has suddenly become really problematic. After all, what is a “slur?” The definitions of words are a lot more fluid than they used to be. Remember a month ago when “sexual preference” was okay? Yeah, it’s not anymore.
The Ongoing Death of Free Speech: Prominent ACLU Lawyer Cheers Suppression of a New Book
On Friday, Strangio’s very un-ACLU-like views of free speech were on full display. On Friday morning, Abigail Shrier — author of a new book exploring the rapid, massive increase in teenage girls self-identifying as trans boys and undergoing permanent gender reassignment therapies and surgeries in their teens — published an article in Quillette describing the extraordinary efforts by major corporations and various activists to prevent her book from being purchased:
The efforts to block my reporting have been legion, starting with staff threats at a publishing house, which quickly reversed its original intention to publish my book. Once I obtained a stalwart publisher, Regnery, Amazon refused to allow that company’s sales team to sponsor ads on its site. (Amazon allows sponsored ads for books that uncritically celebrate medical transition for teenagers)….
Because the book tackles an interesting phenomenon, a number of established journalists wanted to review it….[T]he issue has created surprising bedfellows. Religious conservatives are concerned about the trend—but so are lesbians, who look upon the shocking numbers of teen girls transitioning with abject alarm. Many suspect that all this transitioning of girls is effectively euthanizing a generation of young lesbians….In any case, every major newspaper and legacy magazine summarily turned interested journalists down.
The recent protest by Spotify employees over Joe Rogan’s podcast was triggered in large part by his decision to invite Shrier onto his program. Many liberal employees inside the streaming service demanded this episode be removed. “Many LGBTQAI+/ally Spotifiers feel unwelcome and alienated because of leadership’s response in [Rogan’s] conversations,” was one of the questions posed to Spotify’s CEO at a tense staff-wide meeting, along with a demand to know why that program had not been deleted from the platform.
Who do you speak for?
Hellbound and Down 
You must be logged in to post a comment.