German MPs vote for new law to fine social media companies over illegal content
As a European I love to write smug rants on the internet about how our governments and our political culture are better than those of the US. However, stuff like this worries me.<p>We need more freedom of speech, not less. The US is miles ahead of us in this respect. Here in Europe, we&#x27;re missing that fundamental value of &quot;I disagree with what you say, but I will fight for your right to say it&quot;. Instead, it&#x27;s more like &quot;I disagree with what you say so I&#x27;m going to try to get you arrested for it&quot;. Eg Dutch xenophobe politician Geert Wilders got dragged into court <i>twice</i>! (ridiculous, and also countereffective because guess what it did for his ratings)<p>This sort of stuff is much worse, however. Given the 24 hour deadline, the only way Facebook reasonably can implement this is automation. A computer program determining whether my post is hate speech or satire? Seriously? Computers can&#x27;t even tell the difference between a puppy and a cupcake. Why does anyone think this is a good idea?<p>A long time ago I used to hang out on an IRC channel that banned &quot;bad words&quot;. The bot was very enthusiastically tuned with conservative American values. There was a user called &quot;War^&quot; but &quot;war&quot; was a forbidden word. Talking to him got you kicked out, mentioning him thrice got you banned.<p>Obviously, the solution there was simple: leave the IRC channel and never come back. But I&#x27;m not sure people will feel they have the same option for their favorite social media.