The European Union has been accused of creating Orwellian “ministries of truth” that will ensure wrong thoughts are not allowed in a bid to tackle disinformation online. The Mail has the story.
It is expected that those in charge of the platforms that must comply with the regulation will prioritise advice given by EU-approved “trusted flaggers” and fact-checkers monitoring information posted online.
Cristian Terhes, a Romanian MP and Member of the European Parliament, argued the bloc’s Digital Services Act provides it with enough power to rule on what content is true and false when it appears on the websites of some of the world’s biggest providers.
He told the Telegraph: “The European Commission has taken a page out of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and demanded that EU member states set up Government-sponsored ministries of truth to ensure that wrong thoughts and banned words are not allowed into the digital space.
“Surely in a democratic society, it’s the public, who hear or have access to all arguments, who are the ones to make up their mind on the truth or attractiveness of certain facts, ideas or parties.
“Surely it is for the people to hear and decide what they hold as true or desirable rather than Government bodies.”
The Digital Services Act aims to protect European users when it comes to privacy, transparency and removal of harmful or illegal content.
The regulation, which was put into effect on August 25th, outlines the need for the EU’s 27 member states to set up a network of “trusted flaggers”, with expertise in monitoring illegal or harmful content.
The rules aim to set new standards for policing hate speech, disinformation and counterfeits on the web, and all large digital platforms must follow them.
The new standards were implemented to tackle how tech giants such as Google and Facebook operate in Europe, but websites and online platforms bringing in 45 million monthly users will also be included.
Instagram and TikTok are among the 19 platforms that must comply with the special obligations under the regulation.
It’s by now obvious to most people that so-called ‘trusted flaggers’ are just organs for enforcing a politically-approved version of events. We’ve seen this repeatedly during the pandemic, where anything which contradicts the constantly shifting official narrative is labelled ‘misinformation’ and subject to suppression and censorship online.
The growing trend towards totalitarian European speech policing – where EU institutions grant themselves power to dictate what is true and false and censor all they deem false – somehow needs to be stopped.
Worth reading in full.
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I remember seeing this Romanian MEP with a handful of others denouncing the covid lunacy when it was in full swing and drawing hope from their actions.
And then I saw the zero impact it had and my eyes opened even wider to the total farce that is our system, the EU and the joke we call democracy in the west.
It works if rulers act with restraint, but when they don’t and they bulldoze over everything and everyone to impose their own policies you realise our freedom and democracy is in the gift of our rulers.
It’d nice that this MEP denounces what many of us see, but in terms of effect, it could be him, me or Bugs Bumny saying it. It will move the dial exactly zero degrees.
Pessimist!
Realist
I’m still glad he is saying it – someone has to, and he has the guts to do it. I believe it is having an effect because it can’t only be here that Terhes and his group are re tweeted and cited.
Thank God for his like.
Let them. All good people with rational things to say and who have a desire for freedom speak face-to-face anyway. The control freaks are unwittingly forcing the creation of the alternative world they so fear.
Optimist!
Being optimistic is exactly what they don’t want us to be. Love always wins. Value and encourage individual interactions. It’s the only way to beat the Borg.
That’s why they closed the pubs down during the Covid lunacy. They couldn’t possibly have people discussing the lunacy and concluding that it was unjustified and completely moronic.
Yes..it’s truly Orwellian, Well I’m not joining in, neither should you, and if enough of us don’t it won’t work……how are they going to ban, or correct, or stop millions of us?
They can say anything they fricken want..it doesn’t make it true or feasible…just like I’m never having the jag, and I’m never eating ze bugs!!!?
I’m aware that in my lifetime that real fascism and communism has been overturned..and I suspect it’s just the little things..the people who just don’t go along..
the little acts of rebellion…and at least now we also have more ways to communicate than ever before no matter how hard they try to stop it….…some other ‘platform’ will pop-up….
…it really bothers them, they wouldn’t be trying so hard to stop it if it didn’t…
David and Goliath
David won that battle I recall.
Controlling information through intimidation and explicit controls saps government credibility and makes rumors spread more readily, thus creating ever more work for busy censors. Media Control in China, He Qinglian.
He Qinglian’s censorial officedates back to Tang times.
The Chief Censor is responsible for making Chinese media a consistently reliable source of information so, in case of an epidemic or a war, everyone can trust what they’re being told.
Chinese media provided consistently reliable Covid information so everyone followed it and only 80,000 of them died – even though only 7% of them were ever locked down. They also kept the economy turning over nicely during the drama: GDP grew 14% in those three years.
With no trustworthy information sources, we Wessies split up, got lost in thickets of misinformation, and 1.2 million didn’t make it.
Friends fall down laughing when I tell them that the current dynasty has never lied nor failed to keep a promise (though so far none has claimed the prize of $100/occurrence).
Here’s a funny thing: when I tell Chinese friends that I’ve never found the government lying or welching on a promise they look at me oddly.
Eventually they say something like, “But, um, why would the government lie to us? What do they have to gain? What’s the point?”.
It’s a different world. We must destroy it without delay.
“In 2023, Canadians reported an all-time low trust level of 40%.
Additionally, trust in English speaking Canada was much lower (37%) than in French Canada (49%).
Additionally, the report found that attitudes towards publicly-funded outlets like the CBC “are more negative.” ”
True North report
The don’t care about disinformation. They want to stop unapproved information.
You cannot take the Fascist and Communist tendencies out of the EU “Elite.” They know nothing else. It’s what and who they are.
Yes spawned from Nazi Germany
“Cristian Terhes, a Romanian MP and Member of the European Parliament,” At least one member has a modicum of common sense. That’s one more than I thought possible!
Unless people on mass say this. ——“I have an education and I own a dictionary and I will choose my own words and thoughts”, then freedom is gone, if it isn’t already. ———–I want a million people to stand with that placard in their hands outside every government building in Europe. We need to STOP this tyranny now or it is the Fourth Reich.
If there is some infallible person or people making the decisions about what is the ‘truth’, please refer me to them.
I would like to meet them.