Tag: social media

World Economic Forum Panel Praises EU Censorship Law

One of this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) panels brought together publishers, a French minister, and a UK think tank previously involved in US State Department-funded censorship of Americans, who praised the EU’s controversial Digital Services Act (DSA) while railing against “misinformation.”

French Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology Clara Chappaz spoke about the DSA as a solution to the “problem” presented by free speech on the internet.

Chappaz and another speaker, the CEO of the UK think tank – the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) – defended the law as not being a censorship tool but “merely” making what is illegal offline also illegal online.

Yet the French official remarked that it requires platforms to introduce measures reducing “the systemic risks” tied to “misinformation.” And this ends up providing a mechanism for censorship of whatever the authorities decide to consider “misinformation.”

Chappaz also spoke about an age verification law that was introduced in France last week, the pretext being preventing minors from accessing adult sites.

Keep reading

Deranged Leftist Calls for Trump’s Assassination, Says Shooter Will be Pardoned: “We’re Not Doing That Grazing His Skin, His Ear Sh*t. We’re Going Full Blown Lincoln, Full Blown Kennedy”

A young black woman recently recorded a vulgar rant calling for the assassination of President Trump and falsely claiming that “maybe, if you shoot him, maybe the next president will give you a pardon for it, and you’ll be released out of jail.”

“We’re not doing that grazing his skin, his ear sh*t, okay? We’re going full-blown Lincoln, full-blown Kennedy right now,” the woman said.

“I don’t give a f*ck anymore. I mean, you obviously know that because I’m posting this,” she continues. “Someone get up there. I need someone with precision that knows what they’re doing.”

It is unclear exactly when the clip was recorded, but she references the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was shot in the ear. She then suggests to someone who would be willing to kill Trump, “We need you right now at the White House.”

This woman needs to be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Keep reading

EU Updates Digital Rules Requiring Big Tech To Allow ‘Reporters’ To Monitor Hate Speech

Under a revised code of conduct on online speech, the European Commission says that Big Tech signatories need to allow a network of “monitoring reporters” to regularly monitor hate speech notices.

On Jan. 20, the European Commission announced that updated hate speech guidelines will be folded into the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The DSA is an EU-wide regulation that regulates the obligations of digital services.

Part of this requires social media platforms to remove, and take other specified steps to deal with, what is deemed disinformation. The DSA fully came into force in 2024.

Under the revised code, companies that are signed up must allow a network of “monitoring reporters” that are nonprofit or public entities with expertise on illegal hate speech to regularly monitor how the signatories are reviewing hate speech notices.

They will have to review at least two-thirds of hate speech notices received from monitoring reporters within 24 hours.

The EU said that the updated code of conduct, a voluntary instrument, builds on a 2016 code on “countering illegal hate speech online.”

European Commission Spokesperson Thomas Regnier told The Epoch Times by email that Facebook, Instagram, and X are among the signatories of the new code of conduct. These platforms were also part of the previous code of conduct, initiated in 2016, he said.

It was also signed by Dailymotion,  Jeuxvideo.com, LinkedIn, Microsoft-hosted consumer services, Snapchat, Rakuten Viber, TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube.

The EU also wants signatories to present “country-level data broken down by the internal classification of hate speech (such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation).”

Some of the monitoring reporters include Amnesty International Italia, German organisation HateAid, and the French Ministry of the Interior’s dedicated portal to cybercrime, PHAROS.

Keep reading

US Government Agencies Caught Censoring and ‘Block-Listing’ The Gateway Pundit and Others with the Help of Radical UK Anti-Conservative Censorship Group

Imran Awan, the CEO at The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), bragged about getting conservative news orgs such as the Gateway Pundit, the Federalist, and Zero Hedge reported to social media AND demonetized! Especially from Google Ads, a prominent advertiser online.

According to Bad Kitty Restless Development is funded by numerous big money leftist groups and government agencies, including:

  • Obama Foundation
  • USAID (United States Agency for International Development)
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • Clinton Health Initiative
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • United Nations
  • The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
  • Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation (NOREC)
  • Irish Aid
  • Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
  • Ford Foundation
  • Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA)

Keep reading

TikTok and the Freedom of Speech

“Congress shall make no law …abridging the freedom of speech or of the press…”
~ First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

During the oral argument before the Supreme Court in the famous Pentagon Papers case, a fascinating colloquy took place between Justice William O. Douglas and the lawyer for the government. The case was about whether the government could prevent The New York Times and The Washington Post from publishing secret documents that demonstrated that American generals had been misleading President Lyndon Johnson and he had been lying to the American public during the Vietnam War.

The documents had been stolen by Daniel Ellsberg, a civilian employee of the Department of Defense, in an act of great personal courage and constitutional fidelity, and then delivered to both newspapers. Two federal judges had enjoined the newspapers from publishing the documents, and the Supreme Court was hearing appeals by the newspapers.

When Justice Douglas asked the government lawyer if the phrase “no law” in the First Amendment literally means no law, he was unable to answer. The court found his mumbo jumbo reasoning so telling that it actually published the transcript of the Q and A in the court’s opinion itself – something it had not done before in modern times nor since.

The court ruled in that landmark case that freedom of speech and the right to know what the government is doing and the right to consult whatever source one chooses when forming an opinion each trump the government’s concerns for protection of state secrets. Thus, it matters not how the media obtains information; if it is material to the public interest, the media may publish it, without fear of civil or criminal liability.

The Pentagon Papers case was the high watermark for the freedom of speech: Freedom trumps safety. But the court studiously avoided answering Justice Douglas’ question about no law. If the Constitution means what it says, then no law literally means no law, and thus all sorts of legislation about speech – from defamation to treason to silencing TikTok – is unconstitutional. But if no law doesn’t really mean no law, then what does it mean?

Regrettably, today, no law means whatever the court says it means. That’s what happened last week when the court upheld congressional legislation silencing TikTok.

Keep reading

EU Demands Access to X’s Internal Algorithms

According to the German press, the EU is demanding what the reports phrase as “authority access” to X’s internal documents regarding the platform’s changes to its recommendations algorithms, and programming interfaces.

The bloc is doing that as it investigates possible “hate speech” and “disinformation” violations relevant to the censorship law, the Digital Services Act (DSA). The probe is supposed to determine whether X should be treated as “a risk.”

X has been given four weeks to comply with the provisions of the law, long-criticized by free speech advocates but pushed by the EU as a means to “create a fair, safe and democratic online environment” for citizens, as European Commission Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen put it.

And what that democracy looks like becomes clearer when the real reason behind the latest case of pressure on X is revealed: Germany’s (still) ruling politicians, Chancellor Olaf Scholz included, suspect that Elon Musk’s support for the opposition AfD might translate to X boosting the party’s content.

Germany will elect a new parliament in just over a month and the chaotic campaign there has produced a number of controversial and repressive moves, especially against the AfD and its supporters, often branded as “extreme right-wingers” with some of the party’s branches declared to be “extremist” by Germany’s domestic spy agency.

And yet, the party leads Scholz’s Social Democrats in the polls, and is second only to the Christian Democratic Union, which is also currently in opposition, making it highly likely that the complaints against X’s alleged preferential treatment of AfD have more to do with pure politics and less with “hate speech” and “disinformation.”

Keep reading

TikTok Officially Banned in the United States – President Trump Expected to Reinstate App

TikTok has been officially banned following a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to remove the app’s availability in the United States.

This comes after a Friday decision upholding a law forcing China-owned ByteDance to divest from TikTok by Sunday or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

President Trump previously asked the Supreme Court to pause the ban so his administration could be given “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”

Trump also said in an interview with NBC that he will “likely” give Tiktok a 90-day extension when he takes office.

Per NBC:

“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” Trump said in the phone interview.

“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday,” he said.

Keep reading

Brussels Ramps up Investigation Into Elon Musk in First Salvo of Upcoming Transatlantic War Between the US and EU Over Free Speech and Online Censorship

The historic inauguration of Donald J. Trump as 47th US President will usher in a new Golden Age in America in many aspects, including free-speech.

But across the pond, a generation of failed Globalist ‘leaders’ is scrambling to counteract that, and keep things as they are in terms of online censorship to carry their political narratives alive.

So, yesterday (17) Brussels showed their intent to fully unleash its infamous Digital Services Act (DSA) against tech billionaire-turned-Trump trusted advisor Elon Musk.

The DSA has been demonstrated to be a new form of censorship in Europe, incompatible with real European values or the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Furthermore, CIA-linked Newsguard is mentioned to have being heavily involved in the implementation of the nefarious act.

Now, with Musk flexing his geopolitical muscles, ‘regulators’ in thew EU refused to scale down an investigation of social media network X.

Keep reading

Biden Backpedals on TikTok Stance, While CEO Shou Zi Chew to Attend Republican Inauguration Amid Rumors of Elon Musk Acquisition

An unexpected turn of events, the 
Biden administration has reversed its position on TikTok , allowing the popular social media app to remain active in the United States despite growing national security concerns.

Additionally, it has been confirmed that 
TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will attend the inauguration of the Republican leader , in what appears to be a symbolic gesture of détente between the government and the powerful Chinese platform.

According to reports from The New York Times and the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Chew will have a prominent seat at the event, a gesture that underscores the platform’s relevance in today’s political and cultural landscape.

Meanwhile, rumors about a possible sale of TikTok have begun to gain traction in business circles.

Sources close to the company have confirmed that tech mogul Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X (formerly Twitter), is seriously considering acquiring the video platform.

This move would not only mark a significant shift in the ownership of one of the world’s most popular apps but could also introduce a new power dynamic between the tech giants and the Republican administration.

Keep reading

United States Activates TikTok Ban Starting Sunday

The US government has confirmed that the TikTok ban will take effect this Sunday as part of a measure to protect national security from alleged espionage risks posed by ByteDance, the app’s Chinese parent company.

App stores will be required to remove the app, preventing new downloads within the country. Existing users may continue using it temporarily, but additional restrictions could be imposed soon. According to the Department of Commerce, the decision is necessary to safeguard the data of US citizens from unauthorized access by the Chinese government.

Social media platforms are buzzing with reactions. Influencers and content creators are lamenting economic losses and the limitation of their reach on a platform that has revolutionized the digital industry. Many are already migrating to alternatives like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts to maintain their market presence.

Keep reading