The EU's Secret Assault on Your Free Speech

wsj.com

6 points·RickJWagner··4 comments

> One of the most dangerous parts of the DSA is the massive power it hands to the commission, the EU’s international regulatory arm. While much of EU regulatory enforcement occurs at the national level, which is more accountable to voters, the DSA empowers the commission to investigate platforms and levy fines of up to 6% of their global annual revenue for each violation. In these investigations, the commission acts as both prosecutor and judge—accusing companies of noncompliance under a broad, ambiguous law, then deciding if companies’ answers are enough to disprove the allegations. An American court would strike down such a law as both unconstitutionally vague and a travesty of due process.

I quite agree with this, and it goes further than the decision against X with now also the prelimenary decision against Tiktok [1]:

> Today, the European Commission preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the Digital Services Act for its addictive design. This includes features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and its highly personalised recommender system.

Very fuzzy stuff, but luckily:

> TikTok now has the possibility to exercise its right to defence

So it does indeed sound like "we have decided that you are guilty but we'll give you a chance to explain yourself (good luck with that)", or perhaps "any last words?"

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_...

https://archive.is/pME2T

Free speech followed by a paywall and "What to Read Next".

The English and Americans, as the saying goes, are two peoples divided by a common language.

And as the other saying goes, Americans have no sense of irony.

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