Society How does freedom of speech differ in the US and the EU?

[Maciamo]

Americans like to think that they live in the freest country in the world. While it is not even close to being the case, as I've explained here, there is one thing for which the US may be the freest country in the world and that is freedom of speech. I found this video that explains the different approaches to freedom of speech between the European Union and the United States.

The video was just published after to the EU reminding Elon Musk that disinformation published on X might breach the EU's Digital Services Act if they were not properly moderated. In reaction to that Elon Musk said that the EU tried to stifle free speech, while Donald Trump went as far as saying that the European Union is an enemy of free speech! It's obviously nonsense, but it's important to understand the cultural differences regarding free speech on either side of the pond.

In summary both countries have free speech with some limitations, but the EU has stronger limitations when it comes to hate speech, protection against defamation, and greater privacy shielding.

 

[Tigertim]

The European Union is an enemy of free speech unless you go along with there way of thinking, people even Prime ministers like Orban aren't allowed a different view !
Being from the UK having anti establishment views can get you 3 years in jail or posting the wrong meme or putting stickers up can also land you in jail, after the recent riots the messaging from government bodies as being nothing short of dictorial and Stalinest that would make the leader of North Korea blush. Only a few MP's have spoken out about this the rest have being cowered.
It certainly appears those in the Usa have more free speech for now !

 

[Gao1111]

The European Union is an enemy of free speech unless you go along with there way of thinking, people even Prime ministers like Orban aren't allowed a different view !
Being from the UK having anti establishment views can get you 3 years in jail or posting the wrong meme or putting stickers up can also land you in jail, after the recent riots the messaging from government bodies as being nothing short of dictorial and Stalinest that would make the leader of North Korea blush. Only a few MP's have spoken out about this the rest have being cowered.
It certainly appears those in the Usa have more free speech for now !

North Korea is demonized,its never too bad in the first place

 

[Vallicanus]

North Korea is demonized,its never too bad in the first place

It's never too bad if you toe the party line!

 

[Maciamo]

Being from the UK having anti establishment views can get you 3 years in jail or posting the wrong meme or putting stickers up can also land you in jail, after the recent riots the messaging from government bodies as being nothing short of dictorial and Stalinest that would make the leader of North Korea blush. Only a few MP's have spoken out about this the rest have being cowered.

What are you talking about? There is so much disinformation on the web that you may have read some conspiracy website. What are your sources about "3 years in jail for posting the wrong meme or putting stickers"?

 

[Tigertim]

What are you talking about? There is so much disinformation on the web that you may have read some conspiracy website. What are your sources about "3 years in jail for posting the wrong meme or putting stickers"?

2 years for stickers

Free speech activists outraged after man jailed for two years for running 'far-right' stickers library

Sam Melia was in charge of an online collection of downloadable stickers that contained anti-immigration messages for activists

www.gbnews.com

A woman placed on remand in prison for buying eggs

Manchester woman denies buying eggs for rioters to pelt police

A 52-year-old pleads not guilty to buying items for people to throw at police during unrest in Manchester.

www.bbc.co.uk

A woman arrested over posting the wrong information

Chester woman, 55, arrested over false posts about Southport murders

Woman arrested on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred as police warn of misinformation

www.theguardian.com

Threatened with arrest for sharing posts

UK government 'scouring social media' to arrest people for sharing 'harmful' riot footage regardless of intent

A news correspondent warned that the government of the United Kingdom is actively cracking down on people who have shared footage of the recent wave of protests.

www.foxnews.com

And police commisioners threatening Elon Musk with extradition

UK police commissioner threatens to extradite, jail US citizens over online posts: 'We'll come after you'

A British police commissioner warned that even Americans across the Atlantic could be extradited to the UK if they run afoul of their rules in commenting on the wave of riots.

www.foxnews.com

If you don't think any of this is a over reach we will have to beg to differ !

 

[Vallicanus]

Freedom of speech is fine. Rioting isn't.

 

[Vallicanus]

Also, the ones that bleat about freedom of speech cannot accept freedom of speech from their opponents.

 

[Maciamo]

2 years for stickers

Free speech activists outraged after man jailed for two years for running 'far-right' stickers library

Sam Melia was in charge of an online collection of downloadable stickers that contained anti-immigration messages for activists

www.gbnews.com

If this is true that is concerning. However the source is GB News, which according to YouGov only 12% of Britons think is trustworthy.

A woman placed on remand in prison for buying eggs

Manchester woman denies buying eggs for rioters to pelt police

A 52-year-old pleads not guilty to buying items for people to throw at police during unrest in Manchester.

www.bbc.co.uk

If the police or court can prove that she bought the eggs to supply them to rioters, I suppose that some sort of fine would be imposed. As it only happened last week it's too soon to know what sentence she will receive, but I seriously doubt it will be imprisonment. Anyway this has nothing to do with free speech. It's about rioting.

A woman arrested over posting the wrong information

Chester woman, 55, arrested over false posts about Southport murders

Woman arrested on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred as police warn of misinformation

www.theguardian.com

This is serious. She posted information misidentifying the Southport mass murderer just as people's blood were up and were rioting in protest. That could have led to rioters attacking or even killing an innocent person in retaliation for the mass murder of children. In what world is that ok?

Threatened with arrest for sharing posts

UK government 'scouring social media' to arrest people for sharing 'harmful' riot footage regardless of intent

A news correspondent warned that the government of the United Kingdom is actively cracking down on people who have shared footage of the recent wave of protests.

www.foxnews.com

This was about inciting racial hatred, which is illegal and has been for a long time in most of Europe (due to WWII). The way it is presented is misleading and inflammatory, which is expected from Fox News, a news site trusted almost only by fundamentalist Christians and Trump supporters. YouGov gave it as trust score of -10 in May 2024, making it one of the least trustworthy English-language news site worldwide (about the same as Al Jazeera as Comedy Central, and the latter clearly markets itself as comedy and parody, not serious news). Anyway, despite the title of the article, it doesn't say that anybody was actually arrested for posting riot footage on social media.

And police commisioners threatening Elon Musk with extradition

UK police commissioner threatens to extradite, jail US citizens over online posts: 'We'll come after you'

A British police commissioner warned that even Americans across the Atlantic could be extradited to the UK if they run afoul of their rules in commenting on the wave of riots.

www.foxnews.com

If you don't think any of this is a over reach we will have to beg to differ !

Once again, that's from Fox News. The aim is clearly to make their American audience angry that British police would threaten to extradite them for inciting riots in the UK. But nobody was extradited.

 

[Gao1111]

言论自由没问题，但暴乱就不行。

"Free west" is a contradictory term

 

[Vallicanus]

"Free west" is a contradictory term

Who said the West was free?
It's just freer than the rest.

 

[Duarte]

Maybe the pressure exerted by the European Union will have some sanitizing effect on the X. Seems that after Musk acquired the Twitter was opened a pandora box with the permission of all kind of content at argument that Social networks cannot be held liable for the criminal acts of third parties on their platforms. IMHO the social networks have to act to prevent criminal behavior, at a minimum. There remains the honest doubt as X to whether it could get worse even more, but it is always possible.

 

[Gao1111]

Who said the West was free?
It's just freer than the rest.

In what way

 

[Vallicanus]

In what way

In every way that matters.

 

[Gao1111]

In every way that matters.

No culture in history invented so many rules and laws and such weird morality,Time will tell I guess,Wait

 

[Gao1111]

In every way that matters.

Germany even invented "Compulsory Education",You have no right not to go to school,It directly eliminated illiteracy and laid the initial foundation for feminism.

 

[Vallicanus]

Germany even invented "Compulsory Education",You have no right not to go to school,It directly eliminated illiteracy and laid the initial foundation for feminism.

What exactly is your point?

 

[Maciamo]

No culture in history invented so many rules and laws and such weird morality,Time will tell I guess,Wait

Could you give examples of what you mean? Which rules, laws and morality?

 

[Gao1111]

Could you give examples of what you mean? Which rules, laws and morality?

Westerners invented "compulsory education" and children have no freedom not to go to school. They invented modern national borders and treated people as captive animals. They lost their freedom of free migration. and so on,In my opinion, there is very little freedom in the West.

 

[Vallicanus]

Westerners invented "compulsory education" and children have no freedom not to go to school. They invented modern national borders and treated people as captive animals. They lost their freedom of free migration. and so on,In my opinion, there is very little freedom in the West.

Westerners did not invent national borders. Nation states did.

Yes, I'm sure China and Russia are more liberal in their immigration policies.

So you would prefer an uneducated, anarchic society.