Death Of Free Speech: EU Signs Law To ‘Police’ The Entire Internet And Takes Down Websites With Unapproved Speech

Unbeknownst to most people of the world, the internet has officially changed forever and what people are allowed to say and publish is in great jeopardy. One month ago to this point the European Union’s invasive law called the Digital Services Act (DSA) took effect, that essentially allows bureaucrats in the EU to become the arbiters of speech and free thought online, legally restricting what platforms can and cannot say.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU, posted in a tweet:

We’re bringing our European values into the digital world. With strict rules on transparency and accountability, our Digital Services Act aims to protect our children, societies and democracies. As of today, very large online platforms must apply the new law.

The EU Commission provides their fluffy definition and purpose of the goal:

The Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act aim to create a safer digital space where the fundamental rights of users are protected and to establish a level playing field for businesses.

The two main goals according to the EU are:

1. to create a safer digital space in which the fundamental rights of all users of digital services are protected;
2. to establish a level playing field to foster innovation, growth, and competitiveness, both in the European Single Market and globally

More specifically, this bill targets “online marketplaces, social networks, content-sharing platforms, app stores, and online travel and accommodation platforms;” and “includes rules that govern gatekeeper online platforms.”

The EU explains why such a bill is needed, they assert:

While there are many benefits of the digital transformation, there are also problems. A core concern is the trade and exchange of illegal goods, services and content online. Online services are also being misused by manipulative algorithmic systems to amplify the spread of disinformation, and for other harmful purposes. These challenges and the way platforms address them have a significant impact on fundamental rights online.

The bill was passed in October, 2022, and took effect that November. The next leg of the bill took effect this past month that allows some of the teeth on the bill to be sunken in.

According to the bill’s dedicated website, “17 Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and 2 Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOSEs) that reach at least 45 million monthly active users” are the first that are legally forced to comply. They are:

Very Large Online Platforms:

• Alibaba AliExpress
• Amazon Store
• Apple AppStore
• Booking.com
• Facebook
• Google Play
• Google Maps
• Google Shopping
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Snapchat
• TikTok
• Twitter
• Wikipedia
• YouTube
• Zalando

Very Large Online Search Engines:

• Bing
• Google Search

Since taking effect a slew of specific criteria has been enforced and put on “offer” for users of these platforms, some of which includes:

• Users will get clear information on why they are recommended certain information and will have the right to opt-out from recommendation systems based on profiling;
• Platforms and search engines need to take measures to address risks linked to the dissemination of illegal content online and to negative effects on freedom of expression and information;
• Platforms need to have clear terms and conditions and enforce them diligently and non-arbitrarily;
• Platforms need to have a mechanism for users to flag illegal content and act upon notifications expeditiously;
• Platforms need to analyse their specific risks, and put in place mitigation measures – for instance, to address the spread of disinformation and inauthentic use of their service.

The EU defines what they mean by “disinformation:” it includes “false or misleading content that is spread with an intention to deceive or secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm;” and such code has proven effective “during electoral periods and to quickly respond to crises, such as the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.”

In order to determine if something is disinformation, “trusted flaggers” will be contracted to aid in the fact-checking and censorship. The EU says these flaggers are “entities which have demonstrated particular expertise and competence – to report illegal content to which platforms will have to react with priority.”

Euractiv further notes who these flaggers will be: ‘Yet, these entities, many of which are likely to be NGOs, will have to acquire digital skills on top of their fundamental rights expertise in order to effectively flag illicit content to platforms – and will need financial backing to deliver their services.’

SEE: European NGOs Are Pushing The Public To Snitch On Each Other And Report ‘Digital Violence’ And Hate Speech

But this bill, starting February 24th, 2024, will then cover the whole spectrum of the internet by targeting platforms with 45 million monthly views or less.

EU Member States will have to appoint Digital Services Coordinators by 17 February 2024, when also platforms with less than 45 million active users have to comply with all the DSA rules.

The EU Commission added

Moreover, the new law enforces sharp penalties and fines for not abiding by it, resulting possible suspension “fines of up to 6 percent of their global turnover.”

The new enforcement mechanism, consisting of national and EU-level cooperation, will supervise how online intermediaries adapt their systems to the new requirements. Each Member State will need to appoint a Digital Services Coordinator, an independent authority which will be responsible for supervising the intermediary services established in their Member State and/or for coordinating with specialist sectoral authorities. To do so, it will impose penalties, including financial fines. Each Member State will clearly specify the penalties in their national laws in line with the requirements set out in the Regulation, ensuring they are proportionate to the nature and gravity of the infringement, yet dissuasive to ensure compliance.

For the case of very large online platforms and very large online search engines, the Commission will have direct supervision and enforcement powers and can, in the most serious cases, impose fines of up to 6% of the global turnover of a service provider.

The enforcement mechanism is not only limited to fines: the Digital Services Coordinator and the Commission will have the power to require immediate actions where necessary to address very serious harms, and platforms may offer commitments on how they will remedy them.

For rogue platforms refusing to comply with important obligations and thereby endangering people’s life and safety, it will be possible as a last resort to ask a court for a temporary suspension of their service, after involving all relevant parties.

The EU threatens

But lest anyone think that this law is only contained in the EU, the United States government has quietly given their approval to enforce the law in the states.

According to a letter by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation that affirms this effects on U.S. soil.

U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today sent letters to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairwoman Lina Khan and the head of the European Union’s San Francisco office, demanding answers regarding the degree of coordination between the FTC and the EU to enforce the EU’s Digital Services Act (“DSA”) and Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) on U.S. soil. Both foreign laws were written to weaken American tech companies, particularly in Europe. There are no corollary federal laws to the DSA and DMA, making the FTC’s efforts to conspire with foreign regulators against U.S. businesses unprecedented.

The FTC announced in March that it was sending agency officials to Brussels to assist the EU in implementing these laws, while the EU opened a San Francisco office to pressure U.S tech companies to comply with them.

Part of the letter wrote

Michael Snyder of The End of the American Dream warned about the severity of this new law that fundamentally changes the internet forever, warning, “So you need to brace yourself for a level of Internet censorship that none of us have ever seen before.” He added:

From this point forward, it is going to become much more difficult to share alternative views on the Internet.

I am going to need to be more careful about what I share from now on, because if I say something publicly on the Internet that offends the bureaucrats in Europe, I could get into really big trouble.

And that is going to apply to every other independent journalist as well.

For a long time, the Internet allowed ordinary people like you and ordinary people like me to share truth with a world that was desperate for it.

But now the gatekeepers are exerting a draconian level of control, and the Internet will never, ever be the same again.

Going back to what the EU referenced as examples related to disinformation, citing comments that go contrary to the narrative such as Covid-19 or Ukraine – Bill Gates had stated on December 24th in an interview with Al Jazeera that in preparation for the “next pandemic,” “we have to moderate some of the insanity [online] that you know prevents people from helping themselves.”

Such a bill as the DSA will serve to accommodate Gates’ ambitions.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Free speech is truly dead and gone. Readers know that I said from the start of 2023 that we were going to see the floodgates open when it came to censorship, and this so far takes the cake. The law speaks for itself, and as people such as Snyder also pointed out in his piece about this, most of these tech companies are based in the U.S. anyways, so it is was already a formality that this would largely affect the U.S., though any English speaking publication and company was guaranteed to get tagged with this; and even President Ursula’s remarks validate that, about bringing Europe’s “values” online.

Truth be told, and I’ve talked about this before as well, but there will come time when we (me included especially) will simply be unable to say what we want anywhere online; and the time will come when The WinePress will get scrubbed unexpectedly. This type of bill is the perfect way of to quietly and covertly scourge the internet anything ‘they’ don’t want people to read and watch.

SEE: The DQ Institute: The Social Credit Score To Become A Global Citizen To Use The Internet

Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Colossians 1:17).” Again, I have said this before, but it’s the Lord’s will on whether or not he keeps this ministry going. I have no intentions on quitting, and I will continue to press onward and continue to fight, warn, rebuke, and exhort as I have been, until I no longer can. Therefore, please, continue to pray for and support this platform.

That being said, the way to defeat some of this is to return to the written form. The simple reason the elites and globalists what everything digital is because it can be tracked and stored. Paper and tangible items cannot. I had already indicated that I would be making a future to transition to more tangible work at some point, and so with this bill coming into effect that will definitely be in the cards moving ahead.

All in all, as I said, free speech is dead and no one even notices or cares. But hey, go vote, right, because that’ll totally change everything (sarcasm).

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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