Germany says Twitter journalists ban 'unacceptable' | Hacker News Reader

Germany says Twitter journalists ban 'unacceptable'

dw.com

25 pointsperihelions16 comments

> while the EU has threatened sanctions

sanctions against a privately owned website eh? I've seen sites blocked because of illegal content etc but never because a website banned certain users

Not certain users, but the press.

EUs digital services act / media freedom act, protects journalists from being censored.

What if you are not an official sanctioned "journalist", with a stamp of approval from the powers that be? Do mere mortals like me get a right to free expression?

If it's anything like what I've encountered in German culture, literally everything hangs on the official credential.

Journalists who are working independently or for non-mainstream organizations won't get this treatment. On the contrary, the government would be more likely to push for them to be suspended or for their reach to be suppressed/

  protects journalists from being censored.*

*Other than the NY Post

The law is in place but hasn’t gone into enforcement yet.

Enforcement starts next year.

I don't agree with Musk's bans, but why should "journalists" get special protections that us mere mortals don't?

Why does Elon get special protections that we mere mortals don't? Journalists are a protected class much like owners of Twitter.

I find it ironic to see Germany complain about someone else’s lack of freedom of speech.

Would you mind elaborating on what you see as ironic?

I will take a guess:

German man raided by police after calling politician a “dick” on Twitter - https://reclaimthenet.org/german-man-raided-by-police-after-...

German prosecutors raid far-right AfD's headquarters - https://www.dw.com/en/germany-prosecutors-raid-far-right-afd... (Since Deutsche Welle is a 'respectable' news outlet, they have omitted the context that the raid, on 28th September 2022, happened 11 days ahead of the state election [1], over allegations from 2016-2018)

Germany: Migration background abolished in police database - https://www.bild.de/regional/berlin/berlin-aktuell/wegen-dat... (If you don't like journalists reporting on statistics, simply don't collect the statistics, then turn around and say there's "no evidence" of their claims. Not all press control is done by force.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Lower_Saxony_state_electi...

Of all countries Germany understands better than anyone the tradeoffs between fascistic censorship and allowing any kind of speech no matter how dishonest or hateful.

You will be surprised.

Yes. For example the Nazi regime understood that the state needs to police speech. Otherwise enemies of the people could sow hate and division and undermine the Reich! /s

Censorship must be done by human beings. Human beings are faillible, so there must be a way to hold them accountable when they are wrong. But the censors could always just censor any criticism of themselves, making accountability impossible. Therefore, all systems of censorship are tyrannical and unjust

[flagged]

But "Twitter is a private company, they can ban anyone they want, and you're free to leave it if you don't like the terms"...at least this is what we've been hearing for years before Elon took over ;-)

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