Freedom of Expression

EU lawmakers take aim at ‘arbitrary’ decisions by Big Tech in Media Freedom Act vote

Mainstream social media platforms could face limits on their ability to take down independent journalism that violates their terms and conditions under a proposal agreed by European Union lawmakers ye

UK to change Online Safety Bill limits on ‘legal but harmful’ content for adults

Changes are incoming to draft online safety legislation in the U.K. which continues to attract controversy over the impact on free speech. The draft Online Safety Bill has already been years in the ma

Elon Musk gives Europe’s speech platform rules the thumbs up

While the world continues to wonder what ‘free speech absolutist‘ and gadfly billionaire Elon Musk might mean for the future of Twitter, the European Union has chalked up an early PR win i

UK parliament invites Twitter-lovin’ Musk to talk ‘authenticating all humans’

The British parliament has invited Elon Musk to “discuss the future of Twitter” because we live in deeply wild times. If Musk agrees to speak to parliamentarians on the Digital, Culture, M

Will Elon Musk put Twitter on a collision course with global speech regulators?

Elon Musk joked earlier this month that he hoped buying Twitter won’t be too painful for him. But the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” may indeed be inviting a world of pain

Alphabet confirms Russia is restricting Google News

In the latest move by Russia to censor Western internet services since it started a war by invading Ukraine, Google has confirmed that Russians are having problems accessing its news aggregator servic

Russian search giant Yandex tells investors it’s looking for a media exit

Russia’s internet giant Yandex has told investors it’s exploring “strategic options” for its media products — including a potential sale of its news aggregator, Yandex Ne

Tech CEOs to face faster criminal liability under UK online safety law

The U.K. is speeding up the application of powers that could see tech CEOs sent to prison if their businesses fail to comply with incoming safety-focused internet content legislation, the government c

UK wants to squeeze freedom of reach to take on internet trolls

The UK government has announced (yet) more additions to its expansive and controversial plan to regulate online content — aka the Online Safety Bill. It says the latest package of measures to be

Facebook, Instagram users can now ask ‘oversight’ panel to review decisions not to remove content

Facebook’s self-styled “Oversight Board” (FOB) has announced an operational change that looks intended to respond to criticism of the limits of the self-regulatory content-moderation

Facebook loses final appeal in defamation takedown case, must remove same and similar hate posts globally

Austria’s Supreme Court has dismissed Facebook’s appeal in a long running speech takedown case — ruling it must remove references to defamatory comments made about a local politician

How will EC plans to reboot rules for digital services impact startups?

There's a chance for broader perspectives on platform power to shape the next decades online, and much more besides.

On illegal hate speech, EU lawmakers eye binding transparency for platforms

It’s more than four years since major tech platforms signed up to a voluntary pan-EU Code of Conduct on illegal hate speech removals. Yesterday the European Commission’s latest assessment

Twitter screens Trump’s Minneapolis threat-tweet for glorifying violence

After applying a fact-checking label Tuesday to a misleading vote-by-mail tweet made by U.S. President Donald Trump, Twitter is on a roll and has labeled another of the president’s tweets &#821

Twitter’s political ads ban is a distraction from the real problem with platforms

Sometimes it feels as if Internet platforms are turning everything upside down, from politics to publishing, culture to commerce, and of course swapping truth for lies. This week’s bizarro rever

Advisor to Europe’s top court favors regional limit to ‘right to be forgotten’

Google will be cheered by the view of an influential advisor to Europe’s top court vis-à-vis the territorial scope of the so-called ‘Right to be Forgotten.’ Since a 2014 Court of Ju

Egypt and Thailand: When the military turns against free speech

You wouldn’t normally mention Egypt and Thailand in the same breath. But both countries underwent military coups within the last five years, and even among the many oppressive regimes in the world,

Europe to push for one-hour takedown law for terrorist content

The European Union’s executive body is doubling down on its push for platforms to pre-filter the Internet, publishing a proposal today for all websites to monitor uploads in order to be able to

Google back in court arguing against a global ‘right to be forgotten’

Google’s lawyers are in Europe’s top court today arguing against applying the region’s so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling globally domains, rather only geo-limiting

Wikipedia goes dark in Spanish, Italian ahead of key EU vote on copyright

Wikipedia’s Italian and Spanish language versions have temporarily shut off access to their respective versions of the free online encyclopedia in Europe to protest against controversial compone
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