Tag: social media

Germany’s Shocking War on Online Speech: Armed Police Raids for Online “Insults,” “Hate Speech,” and “Misinformation”

A shocking discussion on CBS News’ 60 Minutes has highlighted the stark limits of online speech in Germany, where oppressive scenes once thought to be relegated to history and dystopian fiction, show law enforcement has been conducting pre-dawn raids and confiscating electronics from individuals accused of posting content deemed as “hate speech.”

In typical Orwellian fashion, despite these speech raids, officials insist that free speech still exists.

Dr. Matthäus Fink joined host Sharyn Alfonsi to explain how these laws operate and how those targeted by authorities typically react. According to Fink, most individuals are initially shocked when police confront them over online posts.

“They say — in Germany we say, ‘Das wird man ja wohl noch sagen dürfen,’” Fink remarked, illustrating the disbelief many express when they realize their statements can result in legal action. He noted that many Germans assume they are protected by free speech laws but learn too late that specific kinds of speech are punishable.

Alfonsi delved deeper, questioning the scope of these restrictions. Beyond banning swastika imagery and Holocaust denial, Fink pointed out that publicly insulting someone is also a criminal offense.

“And it’s a crime to insult them online as well?” Alfonsi asked.

Fink affirmed that online insults carry even steeper penalties than face-to-face insults. “The fine could be even higher if you insult someone in the internet,” he elaborated. “Because in internet, it stays there. If we are talking face to face, you insult me, I insult you, OK. Finish. But if you’re in the internet, if I insult you or a politician…”

Keep reading

Senator Ron Johnson Demands Meta Releases Records on COVID-19 Vaccine Injury Censorship

Senator Ron Johnson, Chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has escalated his scrutiny of Meta’s alleged suppression of COVID-19 vaccine injury discussions, demanding that CEO Mark Zuckerberg release internal records detailing Facebook’s content moderation practices.

More: Facebook and YouTube Censored Victims of AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine

In a letter dated February 4, 2025, Johnson specifically questioned Facebook’s removal of vaccine injury support groups, including A Wee Sprinkle of Hope, which was described in the book Worth a Shot? as the largest such group in the world before it was shut down just five days after Johnson’s June 28, 2021, roundtable with vaccine-injured individuals.

We obtained a copy of the letter for you here.

The letter also reiterated claims that Facebook engaged in shadow banning, appended warning labels to users’ posts about vaccine injuries, and even censored private messages. One particularly tragic case cited in Worth a Shot? described a woman who took her own life after her private messages seeking help from fellow vaccine-injured individuals allegedly went unnoticed due to Facebook’s restrictions on message visibility.

Keep reading

EU Launches “Democracy Shield” Initiative to Tighten Controls on Tech Giants and Enforce “Hate Speech” Compliance

EU’s new “European Union Democracy Shield (EUDS)” committee, which aims to impose more control over tech giants now perceived as aligned with US President Trump, and promote their compliance with “hate speech” laws while imposing more “fact-checking” has gained its chair – French member of European Parliament (MEP) and French President Macron-allied politician Nathalie Loiseau.

The EUDS initiative was first unveiled by EU Commission’s Executive VP Henna Virkkunen, and Loiseau appears to have been given the job in true unelected-Brussels-bureaucracy fashion: this was known before a vote on her nomination took place.

“Nathalie Loiseau will be elected this evening at 6 pm,” it was announced early on Monday by La Lettre (this effective appointment has in the meantime been confirmed).

And it gets worse – another French MEP, Virginie Joron, said that Loiseau had announced she would be elected “the weekend before” those electing her had a chance to vote.

Stalin could never.

However – given the role that “Democracy Shield” is expected to play, namely, control speech/opinions, this odd process is seen by some as basically symbolic of the body’s purpose – albeit it happens to be one that is “denying democracy.”

Loiseau is a member of the European Parliament’s Renew group, whereas Joron is from the Patriots for Europe (PfE); the manner in which the EUDS selected its chief was particularly offensive to the latter since the PfE had hoped to have its own candidate, Antonio Tanger Correa – but that was rendered pointless by the manner in which Loiseau was appointed.

Correa denounced it as a “sham democracy” while Joron slammed the European Parliament’s “theater” where one can get “elected” before the vote.

Keep reading

UK Home Secretary Signals Tougher Online Censorship Beyond Current Censorship Laws

Judging by the most recent statements made by UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the government feels it will have to implement even more stringent speech-restrictive measures than those contained in the sweeping and controversial censorship law, the Online Safety Act.

Appearing on a BBC political talk show, Cooper kept beating the now well-established drum the ruling Labour has gone for in the wake of last year’s Southport killings, and subsequent mass protests – namely, to try to portray social media companies as somehow “a part of the crime,” which is verbatim how the cabinet minister put it.

One of the recurring themes these last weeks, since the Southport trial saw its conclusion, has been that tech companies are “morally responsible” for not deleting (that request came only last week) one of the violent videos viewed by the killer, Axel Rudakubana.

This request was made even though said companies are under no legal obligation to do that, until the spring of this year and the start of the enforcement of some parts of the Online Safety Act.

The stage set that way, Cooper’s logic – or lack thereof – goes like this: “We are being clear that we are prepared to go further if the Online Safety Act measures are not working as effectively as we need them to do,” she told the host, Laura Kuenssberg.

There is no way to predict how social media firms will act once they are under obligation to remove certain types of content – and yet Cooper is already threatening to make the Online Safety Act even worse.

Keep reading

EU’s “Disinformation” Code Becomes Mandatory Under Censorship Law, Platforms Preemptively Enforce Rules Ahead of German Elections

The inevitable slide of the EU’s voluntary — at least in name — disinformation code (the 2022 version) into mandatory rules integrated into the Digital Services Act (DSA) censorship law will become enforceable this July.

But just in time for Germany’s early elections, scheduled for the last week of February, large platforms – Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and X – participated in a “stress test” of their readiness to investigate risks to “civic discourse and electoral process” related to that vote.

This is taken by some reports to mean that although the voluntary code will become obligatory in the summer, the integration before February 23 in Germany means that platforms with more than 45 million users in the EU will implement “disinformation” rules, acting a “voluntary” basis one last time – in a bid “to avoid future legal risks.”

The election campaign in Germany has been marred by contentious attempts by those still in power to discredit and even censor the rising opposition. This is happening both through domestic institutions and by “delegating” some of such efforts to the EU.

The “stress test” done in late January and the reports around code integration timeline fit well in the overall trend. It was conducted by the European Commission and Germany’s digital services coordinator.

The code’s main purpose is to get signatories to step up content “moderation” – which critics see as code word for censorship, but which the EU, along with the DSA, explains as a way to combat illegal content and “protect users.”

Keep reading

Female Pilot Rebecca Lobach’s Entire Social Media Scrubbed before Army Released Her Name – So What Are They Hiding?

On Saturday the US Army released the name of the pilot of the US Army Blackhawk helicopter that flew into a passenger jet landing at Reagan National Airport.

The crash was on Wednesday. The third pilot’s name, Rebecca Lobach, was finally released on Saturday, three days later.

All 64 passengers in the jet were killed.
The three pilots in the Blackhawk helicopter also died in the explosive crash.

Kristinn Taylor at The Gateway Pundit reported:

After withholding at the request of the family the name of the female pilot killed in the mid-air collision Wednesday night between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a PSA/American Airlines passenger plane on final approach to Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., the Army issued a statement Saturday afternoon from her family identifying the pilot as 28-year-old Capt. Rebecca Lobach from Durham, N.C.

The other two soldiers killed in the crash previously identified by the Army are Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland.

Lobach was part of a three-man crew flying a training mission for “continuity of government” down the Potomac River when the collision occurred, killing all three crew members on the Black Hawk based at nearby Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and all 60 passengers and four crew members on the flight out of Wichita, Kansas.

Keep reading

Name Of Female Blackhawk Pilot Not Yet Released, Spurring Social Media Theories

Social media has erupted over theories the deceased female pilot of the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter that crashed into a commercial jet near Reagan National airport in Washington, DC was a transgender pilot.

Sources tell AFP this rumor is untrue, and the deceased Blackhawk driver was indeed a woman.

However, the name of the female pilot has not been released.

In addition, a video is making its way around the internet of an ADSB readout showing erratic moves of the helicopter towards other aircraft prior to the crash. Since the Blackhawk usually is not equipped with ADSB, we also cannot confirm this video and readers should be suspect as to its authenticity.

Keep reading

Deranged Leftists Use “Cute Winter Boots” Code To Bypass TikTok Algo In Organizing ‘Project Mayhem’

Reports are circulating on social media suggesting that the phrase “cute winter boots,” used by some radical leftists on the Chinese-owned platform TikTok, is code for advocating violence against “cis” people and supporters of President Donald Trump. 

“Thousands of radical Leftists are currently organizing on TikTok to disguise themselves, protest, and k*ll Trump, Republicans, CEOs, and “cis” people Users are obfuscating bans with phrases such as “cute winter boots” Videos reference Luigi Mangione’s “Deny. Defend. Depose,” X user Ashley St. Clair said. 

Ashley continued, “Some organizers are calling this Project Mayhem 2025 and using key words such as “Taylor Swift” and other major pop culture references to hide insert videos into the algorithm.” 

Keep reading

Roger Ver’s Pardon Plea: ‘Lawfare’-Victim Or Tax-Evader?

Early Bitcoin adopter Roger Ver has launched a social media campaign pleading with US President Donald Trump to pardon his tax evasion and mail fraud charges, claiming he is the victim of “lawfare” — just like recently pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and Trump himself.

Currently awaiting extradition to the US, Ver says he faces “109 years” behind bars for crimes he did not commit. In his view, US authorities unjustly pursued him.

However, crypto proponents appear divided over whether Ver deserves a pardon.

Some argue he did commit these crimes and that his character is what makes him worthy of the sheer size of the punishment.

“No one deserves to spend life in prison for tax evasion,” one X user wrote. “But Roger has definitely earned it.”

Tesla founder Elon Musk feels that Ver’s denouncement of his US citizenship makes him unworthy of a pardon.

“Roger Ver gave up his US citizenship. No pardon for Ver,” he posted on Jan. 26.

In the moments that followed, the Bitcoin Cash founder’s odds of a pardon plummeted on prediction market Polymarket.

Keep reading

Trump Says Microsoft In Talks To Purchase TikTok

Late Monday night aboard Air Force One, President Donald Trump told reporters that Microsoft is in discussions with the China-based tech giant ByteDance to acquire TikTok, according to a report from Bloomberg.

“I would say yes,” Trump told reporters when asked if Microsoft would purchase the short video app used by more than 170 million Americans. 

The president continued, “A lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok.”

Such a deal with Chinese owner ByteDance would avert a ban in the US. On Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order extending the divest-or-ban deadline by 75 days. This extension gives ByteDance sufficient time to negotiate a deal with a US company. 

Last week, Trump told reporters he was open to X’s Elon Musk or Oracle founder Larry Ellison purchasing TikTok. 

In recent days, AI startup Perplexity proposed a merger plan with TikTok, with the US government receiving half of the new company, a source told Reuters. 

Earlier Monday, Trump told House Republican leaders at the Trump National Doral just outside Miami that he previously pushed for a ban of the video app under national security grounds; however, he changed his mind due to pro-Trump content creators that flourished on the platform.

“We’ll see what happens. We’re going to have a lot of people bidding on it, and if we can save all that voice and all the jobs, and China won’t be involved, we don’t want China involved, but we’ll see what happens,” he told lawmakers, referring to TikTok. 

Keep reading