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posted by martyb on Friday November 03 2017, @03:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-you-see-depends-on-where-you-are dept.

Silicon Valley is a uniquely American creation, the product of an entrepreneurial spirit and no-holds-barred capitalism that now drives many aspects of modern life.

But the likes of Facebook, Google and Apple are increasingly facing an uncomfortable truth: it is Europe's culture of tougher oversight of companies, not America's laissez-faire attitude, which could soon rule their industry as governments seek to combat fake news and prevent extremists from using the internet to fan the flames of hatred.

While the U.S. has largely relied on market forces to regulate content in a country where free speech is revered, European officials have shown they are willing to act. Germany recently passed a law imposing fines of up to 50 million euros ($59 million) on websites that don't remove hate speech within 24 hours. British Prime Minister Theresa May wants companies to take down extremist material within two hours. And across the EU, Google has for years been obliged to remove search results if there is a legitimate complaint about the content's veracity or relevance.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anal Pumpernickel on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:10AM

    by Anal Pumpernickel (776) on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:10AM (#591977)

    Is free speech revered? What about obscenity censorship (it might be used sparsely but the courts accept it), NSLs, free speech zones, laws against public nudity (which I consider this a form of expression), censorship by the FCC, DMCA takedown notices, and the restrictions on circumventing digital restrictions management created by laws like the DMCA? All of those things are completely unconstitutional. Only certain types of free speech are revered, and not even by everyone. The best you could say is that the US might be better than others, but that is not saying much.

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