The Dread Slender Gnome(MK & Alex, question for you at the end!)
Looks like my prediction of Europe-wide hate speech legislation has already come true, though not exactly literally (enforcement to follow this and next year).
The Digital Services Act, a law which would obligate service providers on the Internet to remove speech from their services, or face massive fines.
Upshot: expect more, not less censorship of social media when it comes to “offensive” speech. Even more suppression of gender-critical views, or criticisms of religions, or “wrong” political views in general.
Quotes from the article:
The stated purpose of the law is to end the supposed “Wild West” of the internet and replace it with a rules-based digital order across the EU’s member states. The sweeping piece of legislation includes an obligation for platforms to evaluate and remove illegal content, such as “hate speech,” as fast as possible. It also mandates that the largest social networks assess and mitigate “systemic risks,” which may include the nebulous concept of “disinformation.”
Removing illegal content sounds innocent enough. It’s not. “Illegal content” is defined very differently across Europe. … The Digital Services Act will essentially oblige Big Tech to act as a privatized censor on behalf of governments — censors who will enjoy wide discretion under vague and subjective standards. Add to this the EU’s own laws banning Russian propaganda and plans to toughen EU-wide hate speech laws, and you have a wide-ranging, incoherent, multilevel censorship regime operating at scale.
The obligation to assess and mitigate risks relates not only to illegal content, though. Lawful content could also come under review if it has “any actual or foreseeable negative effect” on a number of competing interests, including “fundamental rights,” “the protection of public health and minors” or “civic discourse, the electoral processes and public security.
But given the legal uncertainty, and the risk of huge fines, platforms are likely to further err on the side of safety and adopt even more restrictive policies than required by the new law.
Serious question to @mk and @alex : Do you think this will have an effect on Spinster’s accessibility in the EU area?
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