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  6.  » EU Threatens Action if Facebook ‘Hate Speech’ Not Censored in 24 Hours

Introduction — Dec 7, 2016

On the pretext of curbing “hate speech” the European Union wants internet giants to control and if necessary edit what it deems “hate speech” online. Of course the EU isn’t calling this censorship but that is what it amounts to.
Crucially however, the definition of what the EU deems as offensive is expanding. It’s no longer just “hate speech” that the EU wants controlled, it now also wants “fake news” to be curbed too.
What exactly is or isn’t “fake news” is a moot point. If the streams of reports and speculation about “Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction” had been deemed fake news then the entire mainstream media would have been at fault.
So who decides what is fake news and what is legitimate journalism? Or is this really an attempt to shut down the alternative and genuinely independent news media that is emerging on the web?
In this regard it’s interesting that the Pizzagate controversy currently exploding on the web has already been labelled as “fake news” by the corporate media. Under the EU’s proposals those citizen journalists investigating what is probably the biggest story in Washington since Watergate would be silenced.
This legislation would also effectively prevent citizen journalists investigating other crimes by the powers that be. Or is that the intention?

EU Threatens Action if Facebook ‘Hate Speech’ Not Censored in 24 Hours

Liam Deacon — Briebart.com Dec 5, 2016

The unelected executive arm of the European Union (EU) is threatening to escalate from “non-legislative” action if Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube do not censor what it considers “illegal” online speech within 24 hours.

In May of this year, the U.S. tech giants signed a “code of conduct”, promising to work with the Commission and national law enforcement to “criminalize” and “sanction” “individual perpetrators” as well as committing to “promoting independent counter-narratives” that the EU favours.

Speaking on Sunday, the EU’s justice commissioner added “fake news” to the list of what they want censored online.

The “series of commitments to combat the spread of illegal hate speech online in Europe” developed “together with… the IT companies” included a promise to “review the majority” of flagged “hate speech” within 24 hours.

However, a new European Commission report has claimed this has only been happening in Germany and France so far, and censorship often takes too long. Consequently, one commissioner implied they could pass new censorship laws if the “non-legislative approach” fails.

The review found that 40 per cent of recorded cases were reviewed within 24 hours, but the figure rose above 80 per cent after 48 hours. Twitter was slowest to respond while YouTube was fastest.

EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová told The Financial Times (FT): “If Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft want to convince me and the ministers that the non-legislative approach can work, they will have to act quickly and make a strong effort in the coming months.”

She added: “The last weeks and months have shown that social media companies need to live up to their important role and take up their share of responsibility when it comes to phenomena like online radicalisation, illegal hate speech or fake news.”

Continues …