While America Falls, Poland Moves to Establish Free Speech Court And Hefty Fines On Big Tech

Posted by on February 8, 2021 9:03 pm
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Categories: NATIONAL HEADLINES

Poland’s justice minister announced a legal initiative aimed at enabling internet users to file complaints against the removal of online posts as well as the creation of a special court for freedom of speech.

“Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said the aim of the bill was to give internet users the feeling that their rights are protected and that their posts cannot be arbitrarily removed from online platforms,” Polish News reported.

As America falls to censorship tactics from all of the country’s trusted institutions meant to safeguard civil liberties, Poland is leading is liberty.

The full name of the bill is: the law on freedom of expressing one’s own views and searching and disseminating information on the internet.

According to his Facebook Page, Ziobro is a determined Free Speech advocate:
“I was born and raised among people for whom freedom was the most precious of values. In Poland, we are so attached to freedom because we know what it is like when someone tries to limit it.
For close to 50 years, we lived in a country in which censorship was practiced, in which Big Brother told us how we are meant to live and what we are meant to feel, and what we are not allowed to think, say or write. That is why we are so concerned with any attempt to limit freedom.
One of the synonyms of freedom for us Poles has always been the internet. It is the most democratic medium in history, a forum on which everyone can have a voice. It is a tool which gives everyone the opportunity to have an impact, in a way which was unknown to us even a dozen or so years ago.
The freedoms that came with the lack of regulation of the internet had numerous positive aspects. But there are also negative consequences: with time, it became dominated by huge, international corporations, wealthier and more powerful than many nations. These corporations treat our online activity merely as a source of revenue and a tool to increase their global domination. They have also introduced their own standards of political correctness, and they fight those who oppose them.
We are now increasingly faced with practices we believed were left in the past. The censoring of free speech, once the domain of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, is now back, but in a new form, run by corporations, who silence those who think differently.
The discussion consists in the exchange of views, not in silencing people. We do not have to agree with what our opponents write, but we cannot forbid anyone from expressing views that do not contravene the law.
Everything which is not forbidden is allowed. Also on the internet, There is no tolerance for censorship, nor can there ever be. No tolerance for state censorship, such as the one Poland faced under communism, or the private type, which we are seeing today. Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy – that is why we must defend it. It is not up to algorithms or the owners of huge corporations to decide what opinions are correct and which aren’t.
Poland will always stand at the guard of democratic values, including freedom of speech. The owners of social media networks cannot operate above the law. That is why we will do everything to define the frame of operations of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other similar platforms. In Poland, we will regulate with appropriate national regulation. We will also suggest similar laws be passed in all of the EU.
Social media platforms have to serve us, and not the interests of their powerful owners. Everyone has the right to freedom of speech. Poland will defend that right.”
THE NEW LAW

The new law is due to be passed in Poland that would fine Big Tech firms a staggering $2.2 million every time they unconstitutionally censor lawful free speech online.

“While liberal governments in western nations seek to fine social media giants Facebook and Twitter for failing to remove so-called “hate speech,” Poland is taking a refreshingly different approach,” The First News reported.

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“Under its provisions, social media services will not be allowed to remove content or block accounts if the content on them does not break Polish law.  In the event of removal or blockage, a complaint can be sent to the platform, which will have 24 hours to consider it.”

“Within 48 hours of the decision, the user will be able to file a petition to the court for the return of access. The court will consider complaints within seven days of receipt and the entire process is to be electronic.”

Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro made clear that the legal initiative was designed to fight censorship.

Ziobro asserted that it wouldn’t impact the right of people who have been slandered or defamed to pursue justice.

“Often, the victims of tendencies for ideological censorship are also representatives of various groups operating in Poland, whose content is removed or blocked, just because they express views and refer to values that are unacceptable from the point of view of communities… with an ever-stronger influence on the functioning of social media,” Ziobro stated.

“We realize that it is not an easy topic,” he continued.

“We realize that on the internet there should also be a sphere of guarantees for everybody who feels slandered, a sphere of limitation of various content which may carry with it a negative impact on the sphere of other people’s freedom,” he said.

“But we would like to propose such tools that will enable both one side and the other to call for the decision of a body that will be able to adjudicate whether content appearing on such and such a social media account really violates personal rights, whether it can be eliminated, or whether there is censorship.”

This should be the model for all developed countries that value free speech, especially the United States.

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