Tag: social media

Rumble is Restored in France After Court Rejects Government’s Censorship Demand

Rumble, the video-sharing and cloud services platform, has reopened access to its site for users in France following a decisive legal development.

A court ruled that a French official’s demand for content removal, delivered via email, held no legal authority.

In response, Rumble has restored full access to its platform across the country.

The dispute dates back to 2022, when a French government representative attempted to pressure the platform into censoring certain videos.

Rather than complying with the demand to erase content under threat of legal consequences, Rumble took the bold step of withdrawing service from France entirely.

That stand against political interference has now been vindicated by the court’s finding that the email in question could not be treated as an enforceable action.

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Telegram’s Durov: We’re “Running Out Of Time To Save The Free Internet”

Messaging app Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov warns that a “dark, dystopian world” is approaching, with governments worldwide rolling back privacy protections.

“I’m turning 41, but I don’t feel like celebrating. Our generation is running out of time to save the free internet built for us by our fathers,” said Durov in an X post on Thursday.

“Once-free countries are introducing dystopian measures,” said Durov, referencing the European Union’s Chat Control proposal, digital IDs in the UK and new rules requiring online age checks to access social media in Australia.

“What was once the promise of the free exchange of information is being turned into the ultimate tool of control.”

“Germany is persecuting anyone who dares to criticize officials on the Internet. The UK is imprisoning thousands for their tweets. France is criminally investigating tech leaders who defend freedom and privacy.”  

“A dark, dystopian world is approaching fast — while we’re asleep. Our generation risks going down in history as the last one that had freedoms — and allowed them to be taken away,” Pavel added.

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Free Speech Advocates Warn EU’s Digital Services Act Enables Pan-European Censorship and Threatens Political Dissent

A controversial EU regulation is drawing fierce warnings from a global group of free speech advocates who argue it paves the way for widespread censorship in Europe and beyond.

The Digital Services Act (DSA), which allows European Union authorities to fine tech companies for hosting content deemed illegal or harmful, has caused concern among 113 public figures who say the law could crush political expression and dissent under an opaque system with vague rules.

In a letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the group accused the EU of eroding basic democratic freedoms by turning private platforms into enforcers of state-approved narratives.

The message, led by Alliance Defending Freedom International and sent to Reclaim The Net, warns that the DSA’s structure encourages governments and aligned institutions to police opinions in ways that would be unthinkable under traditional free speech protections.

“Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of democratic societies. It is through the exchange of ideas — including controversial ones — that societies evolve, and public officials remain accountable,” the letter states.

The DSA, passed under the pretext of regulating disinformation and online harm, is set to undergo formal review in November.

Its enforcement mechanisms enable both state actors and private organizations to flag material they believe violates EU or national law.

However, the term “illegal content” remains loosely defined, opening the door to subjective enforcement and political targeting.

The signatories highlighted real cases that reflect a growing intolerance for dissenting views in Europe.

One example is Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen, who is being prosecuted for expressing her religious views on marriage and sexuality through social media.

According to the letter, the DSA “introduces sweeping mechanisms” that not only allow but encourage cross-border enforcement of restrictive speech laws.

The group emphasized that one EU member state’s most rigid rules could effectively become binding across the entire Union, imposing a lowest-common-denominator standard for expression.

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Roughly 70,000 Government ID Photos Potentially Stolen in Discord Hack

Government ID photos of around 70,000 Discord users, collected for age verification purposes, may have been stolen in a hack, the company said in an Oct. 9 update. Discord is a group chat app used largely by programmers and gamers.

Initially announced on Oct. 3, the data breach occurred on the systems of third-party vendor 5CA, which Discord uses for customer support efforts. The malicious actor aimed to extort a financial ransom from Discord, the company stated.

According to Discord, the unauthorized party “gained access to information from a limited number of users who had contacted Discord through our Customer Support and/or Trust & Safety teams.”

“No messages or activities were accessed beyond what users may have discussed with Customer Support or Trust & Safety agents,” the company said.

“Of the accounts impacted globally, we have identified approximately 70,000 users that may have had government-ID photos exposed, which our vendor used to review age-related appeals.”

Age-related appeals refer to instances when users were locked out of the app due to being reported as underage and then had to submit photo IDs to verify their age and unlock their accounts.

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Paxton expands Discord probe after Kirk’s alleged assassin seemingly confessed on platform

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he is investigating Discord after a report surfaced alleging that the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk used the messaging platform to communicate with friends about the murder.

I’m standing shoulder to shoulder with the Trump Administration to root out and defeat nihilistic violent extremism in all its forms,” Paxton said on Thursday in a new release. “Discord has chosen to allow extremist content, sexual exploitation, and addiction to flourish on its platform. It has a legal obligation to prevent minors from being exposed to these evils, but instead its actions have contributed to the growing wave of nihilistic violence all across our nation.”

Just days after Kirk’s assassination, The Washington Postsaid 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who was charged in connection to Kirk’s death, appeared to confess to the murder via the app.

The Washington Post previously said a member of a roughly 30-person Discord chat shared screenshots of Robinson’s messages with the media outlet.

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Indonesian Government Restores TikTok’s License After Platform Shares User Data

TikTok has handed over a broad collection of user data to Indonesian authorities, a move that cleared the way for the platform’s operations to resume in the country after a brief suspension.

The company acted under pressure from regulators following its failure to cooperate during a volatile stretch of anti-government demonstrations in late August.

According to government officials, the data shared included analytics on traffic behavior and signs of potential online gambling.

The request was triggered by a surge in livestream activity tied to the protests, which erupted after public anger over political perks collided with the fatal police killing of a motorcycle delivery driver.

Currently owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, TikTok is deeply embedded in Indonesia’s digital life, with over 100 million users and a rapidly growing e-commerce arm.

Authorities revoked its license last week after the platform did not supply information about user activity during the period from August 25 to 30. Police reported that some TikTok users live-streamed protest scenes and used the broadcasts to solicit digital gifts or payments from viewers.

On Monday, officials confirmed that TikTok submitted data showing the number of such livestreams and how much money they generated.

Alexander Sabar, a director general at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, said in a written message, and as reported by Bloomberg: “The summary data provided is aggregate data, not specific to a particular user, and therefore cannot be used to track or monitor individuals — including accounts broadcasting demonstrations.”

He said the ministry’s primary interest was in activity tied to online gambling and other prohibited uses of the platform.

Technology companies around the world are often cautious when responding to government data requests.

Firms such as Meta and Google typically weigh these demands against potential backlash from users and the risk of exposing proprietary systems.

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Leaked docs expose billionaire network funding pro-Israel ‘digital militias’

Leaked files published by The Grayzone on 6 October show that Israeli officials enlisted US billionaires to bankroll covert “digital militias” run by former intelligence operatives, tasked with undermining and monitoring pro-Palestinian activism across the US.

The Grayzone reported that the plan, code-named “12 Tribes,” was spearheaded by former Israeli army chief and defense minister Benny Gantz.

He was tasked with recruiting western financiers, among them technology magnate Larry Ellison and his son David, now owner of Paramount and CBS News.

The documents reveal a campaign designed to recruit “an exclusive group of the 12 most influential Jewish philanthropists, symbolizing the 12 Jewish tribes; Israel’s government shall act as a 13th, facilitating ‘tribe.’”

Internal planning papers from Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies described the 12 Tribes as “a non-hierarchical mothership, working for the people and the state” of Israel. 

Organizers stressed the need to conceal official involvement.

“Government money is also a political constraint,” one planner wrote, while another added, “In the jungle, we need more guerrillas and less IDF.”

The files also identify other billionaires solicited to fund the operation, including Oracle founder Larry Ellison, media mogul Haim Saban, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and Westfield Group co-founder Frank Lowy. 

Contributors were expected to donate $1 million each to a fund directed by the Israeli government to underwrite surveillance firms such as Black Cube, which planned to use “state-of-the-art cyber technology” against the BDS movement.

After his reported involvement with Israeli officials, David Ellison acquired Paramount Global and installed self-described “Zionist fanatic” Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Larry Ellison’s Oracle, alongside Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz, is set to hold a controlling stake in TikTok’s new US entity under a deal backed by Donald Trump.

Oracle will manage user data from Texas, giving Ellison – already named in the 12 Tribes Israeli influence scheme – a powerful position over one of the most influential social platforms, further tightening the overlap between pro-Israel corporate power and US social media infrastructure.

Israel has also contracted US firms to shape online narratives in its favor, including a $6-million deal with Brad Parscale’s Clock Tower X LLC to “train ChatGPT” toward pro-Israel messaging and flood Gen Z social media feeds with state propaganda. 

The plan integrates content across TikTok, YouTube, and conservative Christian outlets while Google runs a separate $45-million campaign for Netanyahu’s office to deny famine in Gaza.

Despite these efforts, new US polls show record declines in public support for Israel, especially among young adults.

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California’s Vague ‘Hate Speech’ Bill Would Force Big Tech To Censor Mainstream Conservative Views

alifornia lawmakers are once again leading the charge — not toward progress, but toward repression. Their latest move, Senate Bill 771 (SB-771), is being packaged as a bold stand against “hate” on social media. In reality, it’s a direct assault on the free expression and constitutionally protected speech of ministries, minority groups, and faith-based organizations.

The bill would force Big Tech to remove content that could be interpreted as “harassment” or “intimidation” based on race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and more — or face financially devastating lawsuits.

If Gov. Gavin Newsom signs this bill into law as expected, it will become one of the most dangerous speech-restricting laws in the country. Cloaked in the language of civil rights, SB-771 is built to punish dissent from progressive orthodoxy.

The target is anyone who dares to speak publicly about values or perspectives that conflict with the state’s ever-expanding list of protected identities. In practice, this means community groups sharing discussions on traditional family structures, cultural views on gender roles, or advocacy for certain social issues may find themselves silenced — not by law enforcement, but by tech giants eager to avoid legal risk.

The bills says:

California law prohibits all persons and entities, including corporations, from engaging in, aiding, abetting, or conspiring to commit acts of violence, intimidation, or coercion based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, or other protected characteristics.

 3273.73. (a) A social media platform that violates Section 51.7, 51.9, 52, or 52.1 through its algorithms that relay content to users or aids, abets, acts in concert, or conspires in a violation of any of those sections, or is a joint tortfeasor in a violation of any of those sections, shall, in addition to any other remedy, be liable to a prevailing plaintiff for a civil penalty for each violation sufficient to deter future violations but not to exceed the following:

(1) For an intentional, knowing, or willful violation, a civil penalty of up to one million dollars

(2) For a reckless violation, a civil penalty of up to five hundred thousand dollars.


This language may appear just, but its sweeping terms — “intimidation,” “coercion,” even “aiding” — are dangerously vague. In the hands of ideologically motivated actors, they can be weaponized to silence constitutionally protected discourse under the guise of enforcing civil rights.

That’s the chilling brilliance of SB-771: it outsources censorship to the private sector under threat of state-enforced financial ruin. The law doesn’t need to directly ban speech — it just makes the cost of hosting it too high for Big Tech to tolerate. This will especially impact small ministries, minority-led organizations, and faith-based nonprofits with limited legal or technical resources. For them, one flagged post — perhaps a cultural reference taken out of context — could mean being shadow-banned or deplatformed altogether.

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Tunisian Man Sentenced to Death for Facebook Posts Critical of President Kais Saied

A Tunisian court has handed down a death sentence to a man accused of posting critical remarks about President Kais Saied on Facebook, a decision that has sent shockwaves through the country’s already tense political climate.

Lawyer Oussama Bouthalja confirmed that 56-year-old day laborer Saber Chouchane was convicted over social media posts that mocked and denounced the president.

“The judge in the Nabeul court sentenced the man to death over Facebook posts. It is a shocking and unprecedented ruling,” Bouthalja said, describing the decision as both extraordinary and alarming.

Chouchane, who has little formal education, was arrested last year after running a Facebook page titled “Kaïs le misérable” (“Kaïs the Miserable”), a name openly deriding President Saied.

Reuters reported his online activity included satirical cartoons, posts urging protests, and messages that prosecutors described as attempts to “overthrow the state.”

Authorities accused him of spreading “false news” and “insulting the president,” charges that rights advocates argue are being used to silence dissent.

An appeal has been filed, according to Bouthalja, but Tunisia’s justice ministry has not commented on the case.

Although courts in Tunisia sometimes issue death sentences, no executions have been carried out for over 30 years.

Family members expressed disbelief and anguish following the ruling. “We can’t believe it,” said Jamal Chouchane, Saber’s brother. “We are a family suffering from poverty, and now oppression and injustice have been added to poverty.”

The verdict ignited a wave of outrage online, as Tunisians flooded social media with messages of disbelief and defiance.

Many see the ruling as a blatant attempt to intimidate government opponents and restrict free expression even further.

Opposition figures have been jailed on a range of charges, while rights organizations, including the Tunisian League for Human Rights and the CRLDHT, warn that the justice system is being weaponized to punish dissent.

The absence of transparency surrounding Chouchane’s posts has also drawn attention. Authorities have not released screenshots or transcripts, a move many view as an attempt to suppress the very content that challenged the government.

For Tunisians who once celebrated the country’s post-revolution commitment to free speech, this is a chilling new chapter.

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Signal Threatens to Exit Europe Over EU Push for Messaging App Scanning Law

Signal is warning it will walk away from Europe rather than participate in what privacy defenders describe as one of the most dangerous surveillance schemes ever proposed by the EU.

Lawmakers in Brussels are pressing for a law that would compel messaging apps to break their own security by installing scanning systems inside private communications.

Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, said the company will never compromise on encryption to satisfy government demands.

“Unfortunately, if we were given the choice of either undermining the integrity of our encryption and our data protection guarantees or leaving Europe, we would make the decision to leave the market,” she told the dpa news agency.

The draft legislation is framed as a child protection measure, but would require all major messengers, from WhatsApp to Signal to Telegram, to monitor every message before it is encrypted.

This would eliminate true private communication in Europe and create tools that could be abused for mass surveillance.

Privacy advocates have repeatedly warned that once a backdoor exists, there is no way to restrict who uses it or for what purpose.

Whittaker was clear about the stakes. “It guarantees the privacy of millions upon millions of people around the world, often in life-threatening situations as well.”

She added that Signal refuses to enable chat control because “it’s unfortunate that politicians continue to fall prey to a kind of magical thinking that assumes you can create a backdoor that only the good have access to.”

Any such system, she argued, would make everyone less safe.

The European Parliament already rejected the scanning mandate with a strong cross-party majority, recognizing the threat it poses to basic rights.

But within the Council of Member States, the push for chat control remains alive. Denmark’s presidency could renew momentum for the proposal, even though countries like Germany have so far resisted.

Germany’s position is pivotal. The coalition agreement of its current government promises to defend “the confidentiality of private communications and anonymity online.”

Yet the inclusion of the phrase “in principle” raises alarms, suggesting exceptions could open the door to backdoors in messaging apps.

If Germany wavers, Europe could be on the verge of losing secure communication altogether.

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