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Free Speech

On the silencing of Trump by tech giants.

“Ms Merkel said through her spokesman that the US government should follow Germany’s lead in adopting laws that restrict online incitement, rather than leaving it up to platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to make up their own rules.” FT

It is also the same German government that attacks those who criticise Israel. Example: the BDS movement in Germany.

France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire told France Inter on Monday that he was “shocked” by Twitter’s move. He added: “Digital regulation should not be done by the digital oligarchy itself . . . Regulation of the digital arena is a matter for the sovereign people, governments and the judiciary.” FT

France and free speech? No comment. One has only to look at the recent events in the country.

John Naughton in Opinion section on the Guardian opined that the silencing of Trump highlights “the authoritarian power of tech giants.”

Yes, Mr, Naughton, but you cannot control what you don’t own. 

He thinks that tech giants, like other corporations, must be subject to local regulations. He mentions HSBC as an example. He forget to mention that the local regulation, in this British regulations, has allowed the very same bank to have gender pay gap of up to 35%, that it laundered money in Mexico for example. Similarly, the BBC reported that Facebook paid less than £5,000 corporation tax in 2014. So much for regulations and obeying local laws.



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