Europe s Populists Fearful of Social Media Restrictions – New Delhi Times newdelhitimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newdelhitimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
When President Donald Trumpâs access to social media was suspended, he found some unexpected allies in Europe: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, who called Twitterâs decision âproblematic.â
Thatâs not because she supported what the U.S. president said and did last week. But she, and many other European leaders, do not think private corporations should have the exclusive right to decide who can say what on social media. Thatâs a decision that European rules leave to elected legislators.
Why We Wrote This
Whose responsibility is it to decide when someone should be banned from social media: private enterprise or public authorities?
Update: This post has been corrected as of August 1, 2020 to accurately reflect the details of the NetzDG.
For years, free speech and press freedoms have been under attack in Turkey. The country has the distinction of being the world’s largest jailer of journalists and has in recent years been cracking down on online speech. Now, a new law,passed by the Turkish Parliament on the 29th of July, introduces sweeping new powers and takes the country another giant step towards further censoring speech online. The law was ushered through parliament quickly and without allowing for opposition or stakeholder inputs and aims for complete control over social media platforms and the speech they host. The bill was introduced after a series of allegedly insulting tweets aimed at President Erdogan’s daughter and son-in-law and ostensibly aims to eradicate hate speech and harassment online. Turkish lawyer and Vice President of Ankara Bar Association IT, Technology & Law Council Gülşah Den