BBC: Has Covid rolled back democratic rights?

Once democratic freedoms are snatched away, can they be clawed back? David Kaye – Professor of law, University of California, Irvine; former UN Special Rapporteur on protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Jacob Mchangama – founder and executive director of the Danish freedom of speech organisation, Justifia; host Clear and Present Danger: a history of free […]

The Economist: Censorious governments are abusing “fake news” laws

… Even as free-speech campaigners in rich democracies offer support to those fighting censorship in poorer, less free places, their own governments are providing the would-be censors with cover, even inspiration. Germany’s Network Enforcement Law (Netzdg), passed in 2017, is meant to protect readers from fake news and hate speech by requiring social-media platforms to […]

The Toronto Star: Who should decide what you can’t say on social media? Debate rages ahead of potential government action

Donald Trump. The CEO of My Pillow, Inc. Some 70,000 accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory that claims a Satan-worshipping cabal is secretly running the world and abusing children. The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. What do these all have in common? In recent weeks, they’ve all had their Twitter accounts suspended permanently or temporarily […]

Verfassungsblog: Facebook’s Oversight Board Just Announced Its First Cases, But It Already Needs An Overhaul

On the 1st of December, Facebook Director of Governance and Global Affairs Brent Harris published a blog post announcing the first cases the newly constituted Oversight Board will consider. The announcement was a long time coming; it took Facebook two years to develop the Board, and since, both the company and the Board have been criticized for its slow progress…. […]

Umanesino Digitale: NetzDG e censura globale – lo strano destino del Network Enforcement Act tedesco

… Nel report, pubblicato dal think tank danese “Justitia” e intitolato non a caso “The Digital Berlin Wall”, i ricercatori Jacob Mchangama e Joelle Fiss hanno dimostrato come il NetzDG tedesco sia stato utilizzato come modello di riferimento per rafforzare e in alcuni casi “giustificare” la censura online in numerosi Paesi autoritari: negli ultimi due anni, Paesi come Venezuela, Vietnam, Russia, Bielorussia, Kenya, Singapore, Malesia, Filippine, Turchia, Mali, Cambogia e Pakistan hanno con più o […]

Free to Disagree: SNP hate crime bill flouts international human rights law

The Scottish Government’s Hate Crime Bill flouts international human rights law and poses a “dire risk” to freedom of expression”, according to Danish legal experts. Justitia, an international judicial think tank based in Copenhagen, warns that draft ‘stirring up hatred’ offences in Part 2 of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill breach the […]

Reason: German-Style Internet Censorship Catches On Around the World

Inspired by Germany’s notorious hate-speech law, more countries seek to impose steep penalties on platforms that don’t comply with their censorship whims. “”This raises the question of whether Europe’s most influential democracy has contributed to the further erosion of global Internet freedom by developing and legitimizing a prototype of online censorship by proxy that can […]