Censorship in the EU: Hate Speech Laws Are Suffocating Free Speech | Hacker News Reader

Censorship in the EU: Hate Speech Laws Are Suffocating Free Speech

freedom-research.org

For me the first chart says everything: It is a feeling. I know so many people or seen them on the internet who say "you can't say anything anymore" and then still continue to write the most horrible stuff on social media without any consequences.

Also the way we talk nowadays, I don't know, I would feel ashamed and it is in my opinion way more aggressive, much more threatening and bullying and insulting. And don't let me start with facebook.

So if you tell me, you are not allowed to say so much anymore, I would say quite the opposite.

I remember especially (still ongoing) discussions about heatpumps and electric cars. How much bullshit was/is out there and proper hate against it.

The people do write so much really harmful stuff and are more than happy to do it. It seems to be the new normal to threaten peoples life and their families ones as well about any topic. Seems no problem with that?

Still I agree we need to fight against really bad stuff like the chat control that always comes up atleast since the early 2000's.

There are few things that are punished as harshly and as swift in Germany as writing something that can in some way being interpreted as being negative towards politicians. They've written a law to protect themselves, and only themselves. Despicable and shameful

How harshly and swift, not just in theory? And please come up with a good amount of examples. The statistics say otherwise. And yes I know - in my opinion wrongly done - cases like David Bendels. But they are not the norm at all.

There is a special paragraph, that does exist since the 50s that gives politicians some extra protection and was updated after the murder of Walter Lübcke after a ton of hatespeech on the internet against him.

But beside that, you are also free to go to court if someone insults you. Not just politicians.

No, the law is strictly different for politicians. They're treated much much better by law they themselves passed. They're above the people.

That specific law is for politicians only yes, but you can still go to court if someone insults you - § 185 StGB.

But that one is almost never enforced. While the politician one makes the police knock at your door

Working as intended so.

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