Germany is demanding Big Tech companies take action against the spread of false information, as part of a new law that seeks to protect free speech while also combating fake news. The law requires social media companies to remove illegal content, such as hate speech, within 24 hours of being notified, or face hefty fines. It also requires them to provide information about the origin of content, so that users can make informed decisions about what they are reading. The law is seen as a way to protect free speech while also ensuring that users are not exposed to false information.
#Free #speech #fake #news #Germany #tasks #Big #Tech #battle #disinformation
This will be an everlasting battle. It is hard to quickly find out if something is fake and nip it in the bud. And there is a lot of news that is not fake but presented in a very suggestive way. ‘Woman dies of heart attack just 48 hours after getting vaccinated,’ something like that probably happened. But presented like this, it can be very suggestive.
I’m all for cracking down on fake news. I have no clue how to do it without collateral damage.
the problem is that as we’ve seen over the last few years, today’s “disinformation” is tomorrow’s “common knowledge” as people will falsely label things as disinformation to suppress narratives that go against their interests (be it political, or financial)
with what we’ve seen happen on facebook, twitter, and reddit, the idea of government becoming the ministry of truth should be a major red flag for people. this law will absolutely be abused to censor people.
Some key points from the article:
>Germany is now preparing for the Digital Services Act (DSA), a new Brussels-led, European Union-wide playbook inspired by its own laws. In recent years, the country’s attempts to clamp down on illegal content on internet platforms have met with mixed reactions across the political spectrum, relaying the difficult balancing act of governing online rules while safeguarding civil liberties. As that debate continues, pro-Kremlin actors are intensifying their disinformation efforts targeting Germans.
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>Now, Germany and the EU are gearing up for the new, sweeping rule also spearheaded by Brussels. The DSA passed in November 2022 will be fully in place by next year and will apply to most companies. Its goals are similar to the NetzDG: push Big Tech to root out illegal content online and become more transparent in doing so.
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>Berlin’s NetzDG rules helped spark an EU debate on how to curb such content online and inspired the DSA, says Julian Jaursch, project director at think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung who studies disinformation and Big Tech regulation. The new EU law incorporates critical elements of the German law, like mandatory public reporting on content moderation.
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>Yet Brussel’s new rules cast a far deeper and wider net in its due diligence approach, Schwertheim says. Tech platforms must routinely perform assessments to identify and address systemic risks — rather than simply deleting individual pieces of flagged content. Last month, Brussels announced the largest platforms with over 45 million EU users must identify and mitigate risks, like the spread of disinformation and illegal content on their platforms, and how it affects freedom of expression and media freedom, she says. The companies’ risk mitigation plans will be subject to an independent audit by the EU.
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>The DSA also prescribes tougher penalties for non-compliant platforms. Maximum fines are set at six per cent of a company’s annual revenue. For the world’s biggest internet companies, that could mean penalties in the billions — a more significant hit that could push firms to better comply. Overall, the act is “a fairly powerful tool to force [internet] platforms to actually be active in the fight against disinformation,” Mündges says.
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>The EU’s disinformation code will likely work in conjunction with the DSA to aid platforms’ efforts in battling disinformation. “Taken together, these are promising steps that might create more transparency and accountability” — but the end result depends on how strongly the rules are enforced, Jaursch says.
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>Challenges remain in compelling Big Tech to comply. EU officials have expressed skepticism that Elon Musk’s Twitter will be able to abide by its commitment to the EU’s disinformation code, especially given the billionaire’s cutbacks on content moderators. At the same time, disinformation actors are continually eyeing loopholes in platform moderation policies to evade labels of hate speech or false information, Schwertheim says.
This is an interesting development in the ongoing challenges of misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms. As with the GDPR, it seems like the EU is taking a leadership role in modelling and managing some of the major issues around online activities. Whether other nations will take heed of this and implement similar requirements of platforms though remains to be seen.
Like the lap top being disinformation.
So if a powerful shadow agency says not to talk about Epstein and his relationships, does that get censored too?
check out Whitney Webb, nation under black mail vol 1 and 2.
You either have free speech or you don’t. The only dumb butt is us
Stupid arguments will be debunked by the common-sense majority
If done right, this could be extremely good. Fighting back at a major Putin tactic, and (coincidentally? no) one of fascisms core tools.