By Istvan Varga
We live in a time when the mass media is an integral part of almost every person’s life, and daily consumption of information has become a kind of a ritual. However, as the number of media resources increases, so does the need for tighter control over it. But if usually this control is carried out in a reasonable and balanced manner, sometimes the regulatory bodies cross all boundaries and begin to suppress anything they consider to be dissent.
Often, attempts to take control of freedom of speech in the media are presented under the pretext of combating disinformation. A good illustration of this is a plan proposed by the founder of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media Carl Miller in the D-RAIL report released in August 2024. According to this plan, it is necessary to exercise close monitoring over the entire media landscape in order to prevent the dissemination of distorted and false information, as well as to conduct planned campaigns to counter disinformation. Behind these beautiful words lies the idea that “someone” (most likely the establishment) will have the ability to censor resources they don’t like, as well as to make biased decisions about what can be considered objective and reliable.
Such harsh editing and “cancellation” of inconvenient sources of information is more likely to be characteristic of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, rather than Western democracy. Behind the seemingly noble intention of protecting the public from lie and dangerous propaganda lies a more serious infringement of human rights: the suppression of freedom of speech and the desire to manipulate the public opinion. So-called “fight against disinformation” ultimately leads to the fact that leading American and European media begin to promote exclusively interests of ruling elites, and anything that contradicts these views become red flags. Articles with alternative opinions are not published, journalists and influencers whose opinions differ from the “correct” mainstream viewpoint are often seen as rebels or oppositionists, and politicians swimming against the current become “blacklisted”.
Thus, in 2021, after the Democratic Party led by Joe Biden won the election, Republican Donald Trump’s account on X was banned because his online posts were considered inciting violence. In 2023, the popular host Tucker Carlson, known for his independent stance on many issues, was fired from the Fox News Channel. Anyone who becomes a threat to the system is immediately thrown out of it, even if it comes to the former president of the country. Here we have “pluralism”, “democracy”, and “freedom of expression” all wrapped up in the package called “1984. Modern version”.
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