David Vance SubstackRead More
Did you see this headline over on GB News?
This is very dangerous indeed.
Ofcom could be given emergency powers which would allow censoring of social media posts in an effort to tackle misinformation online following riots that swept across the UK earlier this month. Following a discussion with Government officials and the Metropolitan Police’s Counterterrorism Unit, the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has proposed that the regulator should be able to step in to diminish harmful posts online. In moments of crisis, Ofcom would be able to apply to a judge to gain emergency powers that would momentarily allow it to demand action taken by online platforms.
You see what they are doing? They are using the understandable protests following the brutal murders of three children at Southport, some of which descended into riots, to strangle free speech. If Ofcom is granted such pernicious power, and I fear it will, then all social media platforms – including Substack – would be bullied into “diminishing” content that the Government doesn’t like. This is a euphemism for censorship.
Quite HOW this would work is rather hard to say, but leaning on all the platforms would be the first stage. The comes the financial fines and finally the arrests. We saw Elon Musk CLOSE DOWN the operation of X in Brazil over a similar power play by Government.
The social media platform X will close its office in Brazil amidst a legal battle with the South American nation’s Supreme Court over a purported secret order to remove some posts from the site in Brazil, according to a statement posted by the company on X.
Users in Brazil will still be able to use the social media site.
“The decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to @alexandre’s (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed,” Musk wrote on X
Is this what awaits us in the UK? How many platforms will cave? Who gets to decide what is “misinformation” and what would these “emergency powers” be that Ofcom would be granted? It seems to me that Labour are out to CRUSH free speech and will use every weapon available to achieve this objective!
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