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Comment by mrtksn | Hacker News Reader

Europeans are following the wrong path on regulating the internet. Instead of calling it internet safety and annoy people, they should just make those services and the people running them liable for the damages.

The same goes for the freedom of speech. Europeans should make it legal guarantee instead of trying to build walls around speech. So when X or 4Chan etc deletes a post, it may lead to freedom of speech fines if deletion wasn't justified. Tha same for the algorithm, if a post that doesn't break the rules is discriminated by the algorithm, a hefty fine should apply.

Suddenly we will have companies that keep their business clean and no claim for moral high ground.

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I agree but you have to understand that a lot of European (leaders) still have WW2 in the back of their head.

For them there're far worse things than giving up some freedoms.

One can agree or disagree with this but Europe's actions are far more understandable if you see where they're coming from.

From what it's worth, the younger generation doesn't seem to see this the same way so whatever censure Europe introduces today will most likely be temporary.

I agree but you have to understand that a lot of European (leaders) still have WW2 in the back of their head.

Then they do not understand how or why WWII started. Few people are really interested or care about this - it's treated more as a kind of Aesopian Fable than a historical event.

I am more cynical than you however, I suspect the Eurocrats who use WWII as a censorship justification know full well it has nothing to do with WWII.

> One can agree or disagree with this but Europe's actions are far more understandable if you see where they're coming from.

I think you're falsely attributing this to WW2. Free speech is simply just not part of European culture in the way that it is a part of american culture. The ideal of "free speech" regardless of how well that ideal is implemented in practice is something that is much more instilled in US culture than European culture.

They simply do not give a shit the same way that the US claims it gives a shit about free speech. To them its an afterthought. Nothing to do with WW2 and the trauma of it.

Worth pointing out the modern American conception of freedom of speech is super recent. It only really became a thing in the 1970s. Before then, restrictions on porn, film, even written materials on controversial subjects like abortion could and were regulated.

The 1st Amendment was over 200 years ago, basically a few decades after the US was founded. There was always a rather large libertarian faction.

The 1st Amendment is old, but the way it's applied today is quite radical compared to how it was applied for most of American history. The US being so free speech isn't much older than the median American is.

Totally. We don’t believe in free speech in the way the us does.

We believe in the freedom of genuine political discussion.

Nobody believes in free speech.

It's very weird, all these online laws and regulations seems like its an attempt to reduce the cost of policing by making the platforms a police force and I don't like that. If nazis gather on a platform, go get them or keep eye on them. It's even better than pretending that there are no nazis because you were able to silence them. Known cunts are much easier to deal with than cunts undercover, seriously why push people undercover? Let them speak, if that speech increases their numbers then you must work on your speech.

The UK is no longer part of Europe.

Oh sorry did it shift into the mid Atlantic or something?

You need to learn the difference between Europe the continent and the EU the political union. The two are not interchangeable.

The British continued to be European post 2020

Reminds me of some British MP who said around Brexit time Britain is not leaving Europe geographically. Anyway, Russia or Turkey are geographically in Europe too, but when we are talking about "European regulation", it's pretty obvious that these are excluded, and so is Britain after 2020.

I understand there is context in this thread. I also understand that statements like "The UK is no longer part of Europe" are frequently used with political motivations, to sow division.

Also, being geographically close, and only recently an ex-EU member, and with strong alignment on defence/Ukraine, it is not like we are wholly separate and unaligned. We retained some EU law, such as GDPR and EU261 (copy-pasted into a law referred to as 'UK261'). Yes, I understand the UK not being a member state means that EU laws wouldn't automatically apply – but the world is more complex than that.

The Labour party shares a lot in common with many parts of the EU and EU governments when it comes to control, privacy etc.

The UK has been re-aligning with the EU and the rest of Europe for a little while now, repairing relationships, for obvious reasons.

On an article talking about regulations, assume the context is the latter.

No. The words are not interchangeable. Also, knowingly conflating them is politically charged.

Learn the difference and use them correctly and respectfully.

Do you think that regulations is something that only EU does? I have a news for you: https://xkcd.com/1053/

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