Elon Musk has until the end of Wednesday to respond to demands from Brussels to remove graphic images and disinformation linked to the violence in Israel from his social network X — or face the full force of Europe’s new social media rules.
Thierry Breton, the European Union commissioner who oversees the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) rules, wrote to the owner of X, formerly Twitter, to warn Musk of his obligations under the bloc’s content rules.
If Musk fails to comply, the EU’s rules state X could face fines of up to 6 percent of its revenue for potential wrongdoing. Under the regulations, social media companies are obliged to remove all forms of hate speech, incitement to violence and other gruesome images or propaganda that promote terrorist organizations.
Since Hamas launched its violent attacks on Israel on October 7, X has been flooded with images, videos and hashtags depicting — in graphic detail — how hundreds of Israelis have been murdered or kidnapped. Under X’s own policies, such material should also be removed immediately.
That’s irking to limiting press freedom if gruesome photos and videos are forbidden. That ain’t good, EU!
Edit: for all the dumb fucks downvoting me… Where the fuck did I say anything about fake news and propaganda?
Anyone has an idea what turned the American people against the Vietnam war? Exactly. Horrible videos and photos. That’s how the world learns about immoral horrors. And Nazi concentrationi camp photos in all the Nazi German newspapers early on would have changed the course of ww2. But there weren’t any published photos…
2nd Edit: important context I missed: from https://feddit.nl/comment/3638132
Get out of here with your silly US-centric idea of “absolute free speech”. Pretty much every civilized country in the world has boundaries to what is considered acceptable.
And even the US does (though they are fewer than elsewhere, granted).
But for some reason the US has produced this myth that absolute freedom of speech (which it doesn’t have) somehow is the best possible choice (which it isn’t).
A free press is hardly a US-centric idea.
It isn’t and it’s a good idea.
But somehow the US doesn’t seem to be as good at having one as they might want to think:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Press_Freedom_Index
It’s not terrible in that index, but it’s below most European countries.
Edit: or maybe you prefer an index by a US instituation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_Press_(report) the ranking looks pretty similar, though.
Free speech and free press are vital to intellectual progress.
Information needs to be exchanged to grow.
They were referring to absolute free speech. Something that many people in the US believe to be a real thing.
What intellectual growth can one expect from videos of Hamas slaughtering civilians in slow motion, overlaid with glorifying music?
The rest of the world knows what is happening and can respond accordingly.
I am not American. I am European. Thanks for playing. Try to read what someone actually wrote next time.
The concept of absolute freedom of speech is based on lessons learned in history and even the present. As soon as you start limiting speech you have to draw a line and nobody can agree on where that line should be. The real issue however, is that it’s ultimately government that decides.
A government that can limit few speech gets to decide what acceptable speech is and that’s a dangerous power in the hands of the wrong people.
There’s definitely consequences to unhinderred free speech but I think history shows us that the alternative is worse.
So…
You think it should be legal for any random person to stand outside your house with a megaphone telling everyone that you’re a child abuser and the only way to protect the kids is to immediately kill you?
I believe the classic example is yelling “fire” in a crowded theater
Yeah, but when explaining it to someone with zero empathy, they dont understand unless it’s explicitly about them…
If “fire in a theater” would work on that person, it would have already. It’s not some obscure example no one’s ever heard of before…
No I don’t personally believe in absolute free speech I was just trying to offer perspective in response to a comment that was rejecting the concept outright.
I do enjoy the rise it got out of this audience though.
That’s so much sadder than if you were being authentically stupid…
What’s sad is you being mean to a person for simply making a comment on a social media platform.
Wait…
I thought you just said you were trolling…
Now your serious and it was a legitimate question?
JK, I don’t give a fuck, I’m not even sure why I didn’t block you already.
What? I never said I was trolling. I said I was offering a different perspective.
It’s so bizarre how people are attacking me for that. You would think I said something awful.
I did enjoy the reaction that my original comment got but only because the comment wasn’t intended to stir up controversy or invoke a strong reaction but clearly has.
I was contributing to a conversation with a comment that I feel was quite harmless. I didn’t know free speech absolutism was such a feather rustling topic.
Enjoying people being unhappy with you is not a very good life outlook.
Did you really just go from “I think history shows us that the alternative is worse” to this?
cringe
The lesson learned from history, at least when it came to drafting the German Basic Law in 1948/49, is that freedom of speech must bow to the sanctity of human dignity, as does everything else.
Indeed. Something the USA probably will never learn
This is a slippery slope logical fallacy.
As in A is like B is like C […] is like Z.
In the case at hand, no one is talking about censoring someone’s spicy take on bidenomics - is a binary question of “is this image likely to support extremism”.
History does not show that censoring this type of material leads to an autocracy.
My favourite is “absolute free speech!!” combined with “if you say something someone doesn’t like, they are entitled to punch you”
Or “freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences” lmao but then it’s not [absolute] free speech
No, you don’t understand, it’s easy:
Easy, huh? /s
Its freedom of speech from the government not carte blanche to say what you want.
Granted even that is still slightly restricted.
It baffles me that y’all are ok with being muzzled.
Straight talk time.
Those images should be posted and not removed.
People need to see what is happening for them to react.
Pictures and videos proved the holocaust to the world.
Pictures and videos got the us out of Vietnam
People need to see things that make them viscerally uncomfortable.
Thank you! I wrote my edit before I read any replies but that’s exactly it 👍
“removing my propaganda is against my freedumb of speech!!!”
Talking about spreading misinformation and media containing violence.
Yeah, clickbait headlines :(
We don’t have a ‘free press’. We have a ‘private press’. We have all the news they want to print. Musk, for example, has suppressed and banned, and blocked all over ex-twitter.
No I did not
The US isn’t the world.
I’m not talking about the US…? 🙄
Limiting (islamo-)fascist propaganda is good. Freedom of speech is a social contract. You only get to keep your freedom of speech if you don’t use it to grossly infringe the rights of others.
Have my upvote