Censor The Internet Act: EU Agrees to Expand Online Censorship With 'Digital Services Act'
The European Union is working to massively expand online censorship, strictly regulate speech during times of "crisis" and restrict online anonymity through digital passports.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both lobbied for the EU to back the censorship bill on Thursday:
From France 24, "EU agrees on new legislation to tame internet 'Wild West' ":
The Digital Services Act (DSA) the second part of a massive project to regulate tech companies aims to ensure tougher consequences for platforms and websites that host a long list of banned content ranging from hate speech to disinformation and child sexual abuse images.
[…] Tech giants have been repeatedly called out for failing to police their platforms – a New Zealand terrorist attack that was live-streamed on Facebook in 2019 caused global outrage, and the chaotic insurrection in the US last year was promoted online.
The dark side of the internet also includes e-commerce platforms filled with counterfeit or defective products.
[…] The regulation will require platforms to swiftly remove illegal content as soon as they are aware of its existence. Social networks would have to suspend users who frequently breach the law.
The DSA will force e-commerce sites to verify the identity of suppliers before proposing their products.
[…] The European Commission will oversee yearly audits [of Big Tech firms] and be able to impose fines of up to six percent of their annual sales for repeated infringements.
Looking over the outline of the new agreement it's striking how they seamlessly conflate child sexual abuse material with "illegal hate speech."
Both are jumbled together as "illegal content."
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63043
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63043