Margarita de la Pisa Carrión noted that the request to remove pro-life lobbyists was based on the assumption that abortion is a fundamental human right, though it has never been enshrined as such in European law.
The Lady of Heaven proved an affront to all branches of Islam for its showing of the prophet Muhammed—within the Islamic faith, any depiction of its founder is expressly forbidden.
The assertiveness and coordination of the riots convey a simple yet brutal message: the Islamist movement in Sweden is not going to tolerate the country’s free-speech laws anymore, and it will use whatever means necessary to achieve its goal.
Shaping public opinion is very hard without social media—and it is made worse when one is in conflict with social media. And because of such tendencies, which tend to dominate on the big platforms, public opinion eventually morphs into one single mold or mindset. It is ‘groupthink’ par excellence.
New speech-restriction laws, whether national or at the EU level, would amplify a disturbing trend underway in Europe, where the right to free expression is gradually being replaced with a new legal default. What speech is not explicitly permitted, is banned.
If it decides to shut down Telegram, Germany will join countries like China, Iran, Pakistan, Belarus, and Cuba who’ve also banned the application in the past.
The Konfederacja account, followed by 671,000 internet users, was officially deleted for posting information regarding COVID-19. The Polish government has announced its intention to protest to Meta, the new name of Mark Zuckerberg’s company. In terms of audience, the party had the largest contingent of supporters on the American social network for a Polish party.
“What is spread on Telegram is disgusting, indecent, and criminal,” Federal Justice Minister Buschmann said. “My wish is that we do not take a special German path, but rather create a common European legal framework that enables us to take action against hatred and agitation on the Internet.”
The temptation to standardize news, with the broadcasting of a single source of information, takes us directly back to the experiences of state propaganda systems—the difference being, this time, that propaganda is in the hands of private companies such as GAFA and no longer in the hands of states.
‘Misogyny’ and ‘hate’ are already nebulous, elastic terms. How to legislate justice for these offenses raises concerns over how such legislation would affect freedom of speech.
There are numerous instances of international organizations, such as the OECD and the WHO, not asking for—and in some cases even suppressing—input from those with different opinions. Is this “cancel culture” among multilaterals?
After years of chasing Islamic extremists, however, Western governments and their intelligence services, as well as the mainstream media, today seem to have broadened the scope of what they mean by “extremism” to encompass all ideologies, philosophies, and political movements that are somehow deemed “too dangerous” to exist. And these, according to them, are increasingly found on the Right.
