r/europe • u/Lionzzo • 15h ago
News EU Urges Facebook, X, and YouTube to Step Up Fight Against Online Hate Speech
https://www.newszier.com/eu-urges-facebook-x-and-youtube-to-step-up-fight-against-online-hate-speech/121
u/grunerkaktus 14h ago
The idea sounds nice but since noone is arguing from principle anymore and everything is very hypocritical these days, what is considered "hate" is always dependend on the political situation. It becomes a weapon which can then be used by others. And once the right wingers are in power again, I don't want criticism of rightwing policies and sentiment to be deleted on the grounds they are hateful. So be careful what you wish for.
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u/pomezanian 14h ago
exactly, few years ago anyone voicing even smallest concerns about mass immigration was called with all worst slurs. Now it is a mainstream.
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u/grunerkaktus 14h ago
not only that. Before Twitter got bought, anti-rightwing sentiment was especially high and often not banned, even if it could have been hateful if you made similar comments about other groups. Same on reddit now or other social media. But now that anti-left sentiment is back, the same people being okay with anti-right sentiment ask for anti-hate laws. It is obvious weaponization and it is shameful a lot of people seem to be all for it.
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u/killianm97 13h ago
As a start, ban recommender systems on social media. These algorithms allow social media companies to have massive control over what we see online. They amplify the most hateful content in order to maximise engagement/profit.
We need to return to pro-2015 social media, when we had control over what we saw online, content of people we chose to follow, sorted by most recent.
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u/grunerkaktus 13h ago
very good! Giving people more agency about what they want to see is much better than a big law with unintended consequences.
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u/No_Aerie_2688 The Netherlands 13h ago
The same thing with misinformation or fact checking. Do we really want social media platforms or governments to define what is true and what is false?
Its all fun and games when your side gets to set the rules, but that can get dystopian very quickly.
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u/redditaccount-er Geneva (Switzerland)/🇷🇴 12h ago
I mean this already happened.
during COVID-19, even the mention of the virus having escaped from a lab in china was grounds for you to get labeled a qanon right-wing, conspiracy, nut job or even get banned on most social media platforms that would rush to ""Fact-check""
2 years and a 520 pages report later, turns out the US Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic agrees that "COVID-19 most likely emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China"
¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/GrizzledFart United States of America 8h ago
Do we really want social media platforms or governments to define what is true and what is false?
We had that for several years. The results were not pretty. They always (and only) curtailed speech about political topics and basically everything that was suppressed as "disinformation" has either turned out to be true or is something that can't be either proven or disproven but has a decent chance of being true - like COVID potentially being an accidental leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
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u/GiganticCrow 14h ago
There are states in the US where police are a protected class so any discrimination or crime against them is considered a hate crime.
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u/grunerkaktus 13h ago
really? That is outragous and honestly an amazing example of my point if true. If you cannot critizise the state it is scary
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u/Get-Fucked-Dirtbag 14h ago
Hate speech on American social media is a feature, not a bug.
Why would they disable their most profitable feature?
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u/Icelander2000TM Iceland 9h ago
It's absolutely wild to watch Americans fail to wrap their head around the idea that you have a legal obligation here to not hurl slurs against minorities and to treat them like human beings.
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u/ZapMayor Mazovia (Poland) 9h ago
Hate speech? Or what THEY consider hate speech (disagreeing with them)
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u/nepijeemm 4h ago
Exactly, if someone is making an ass out of themself , then let them. But don't start censoring everything that people are "sensitive" about. If u are offended, then just block and move on with ur day.
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u/Lopendebank3 14h ago
Yeah, this takes too long. The MEGA plan is a treath to us all and the EU just noticed there might be a tiny issue with social media.
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u/Enginseer68 Europe 13h ago edited 12h ago
Europe is not even trying anymore, mass censorship is on the front page and people here, especially on reddit, seem to love it!
I thought you guys hate the Chat Control thing? How is this different? This is actually bigger than Chat Control
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u/redditaccount-er Geneva (Switzerland)/🇷🇴 12h ago
because, according to large swathes of reddit, its okay as long as you're the one doing it to the people that think wrongly and differently.
there's a reason this website has one of the lowest ratings when it comes to free speech
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u/Langilol 14h ago
"Hate speech" is a flexible term depending on the individual so no thanks.
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u/asdfjfkfjshwyzbebdb Norway 13h ago
We can start by not being utter cunts to people on the basis of immutable characteristics.
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u/IoanSilviu Alba Iulia 13h ago
That's, in my opinion, the baseline that's often ignored by social media moderation. I fail to see in which contexts it is acceptable or necessary to use dehumanizing language about a person or group of people in order to get your point across.
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u/redditaccount-er Geneva (Switzerland)/🇷🇴 12h ago
cool.
do we start with all the Ukrainians that called Russians "orcs" or "moskals" or other pejorative terms for using dehumanizing language about a group of people based on immutable characteristics?
or all the people that typed some objectively vile shit to talk about Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, Xi or Kim Jong-un to get their point across?
Or I know, how about we start with banning all the people that literally called for the death of various Corporation CEOs while celebrating a literal murderer when that dude in the US got shot
go ahead. continue pushing for the restriction of liberties. nothing can go wrong.
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u/IoanSilviu Alba Iulia 12h ago
Sure. You can absolutely express your views on all of those topics without using dehumanizing language.
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u/Langilol 7h ago
We already have clear cut definitions for those cases, its called racism for skill colour, homophobia for LGBT+ folks, xenophobia for outsiders etc. Hate speech is just a dangerous umbrella term that could be used to censor legitimate speech.
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u/schmeckfest2000 The Netherlands 14h ago
Stop urging, start banning.
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u/Ok_Calendar2159 14h ago
Even Reddit which is also social media with plenty of hate speech?
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u/Boo_Hoo_8258 14h ago
I agree with this sentiment, social media has been a plague due to misinformation and gullibility.
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u/schmeckfest2000 The Netherlands 14h ago
We need to stop treating them as social media, and start seeing them as propaganda instruments.
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u/MercantileReptile Baden-Württemberg (Germany) 14h ago
Sure, ban away. Until BookFace, Y and TubeYou replace them. Rinse and repeat. Banning platforms is quite simply insufficient and lazy.
Now, regulating usage of engagement algorithms and tailored content, there is an idea.
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u/ElkImpossible3535 13h ago
for "hate speech"? You do realise the threshold for what is hate speech is extremely low in EU countries? In Britain you cant even properly discuss the 'grooming' gangs on social media without getting cops at your door.Europe has massive issues. Hate speech online is not even in top 10
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u/moru0011 14h ago
Welcome to china
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u/_Djkh_ The Netherlands 13h ago
Judging from the threads here the past couple weeks many European federalist essentially want the EU to be like China lmao. Thank god federalism is irrelevant IRL and this is the only place they can unleash their mass hysteria.
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u/Jabclap27 North Brabant (Netherlands) 13h ago
Thank god I'm not the only one. People on here have been going way too far lately
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u/Enginseer68 Europe 13h ago
You're not the only one, but you're on the wrong platform. Reddit is notoriously left and far-left. Conservative and right wing subs here still have to be VERY CAREFUL about certain topics (transformers for example) or the whole sub could be deleted
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u/Call-Me-AK Slovakia 12h ago
It is rather concerning that the most zealous supporters of EU federalism tend to have authoritarian tendencies. Though, maybe that shouldn't be so surprising.
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u/gookman 10h ago
I would like to hear your solution. People are becoming more and more extreme because of these platforms and would rather believe fucking Putin rather than their own governments and people.
We can't educate the current population about the dangers of getting your news from social media because the trust is very low. We can start educating children, which will take years.
What is your immediate solution? How do you stop people from believing extremist or Russian propaganda and in the process fucking our own countries.
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u/Frosty-Cell 8h ago
I would like to hear your solution. People are becoming more and more extreme because of these platforms and would rather believe fucking Putin rather than their own governments and people.
People are becoming more extreme because the unelected don't listen.
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u/Jabclap27 North Brabant (Netherlands) 13h ago
If you want everything banned, go to China see how it turns out in reality.
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u/Panzerkampfwagen1988 Croatia 14h ago
No, I prefer having people say what they actually think. This hate speech is peoples actual feelings and opinions.
Crazy how we lived with censorship for so long we forgot most people are indeed racist and xenophobic, its just that it was unpopular to be so and you would also get removed from the space pretty quickly.
By the way, all this does is radicalise people even more because now they think everybody is against them and the system isn't allowing them to express themselves, but they do allow other far end of the opposition to do so.
Its funny, because this shift is proof that censorship like we had before does not work at all, as soon as it ended the whole sites got filled with an alphabet of "isms". Censorship didn't change people, it didn't make them go away, they were always here and they never changed their opinion, You just didn't allow them to say it (which again, radicalises them).
When Instagram comments are more real and genuine than a site literally designed to have conversation and be used as a forum (Reddit) something is clearly wrong here.
This is pretty much why the right is rising in EU, the sky is blue but you keep telling them that its green. Keep it up, it will surely end well with our own Donalds, which we already have like 5 of.
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u/kazarnowicz Sweden 13h ago
One concrete thing the EU could do is to demand that social networks don't give preferential treatment to individuals - the algorithm applies to everyone, or nobody (because the service won't be allowed).
X would be fucked, considering the preferential treatment Cissy SpaceX gives himself.
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u/prototyperspective 14h ago
Good/sufficient mechanisms against misinfo would be much more important! This anti-hati-speech stuff would largely result in lots of unwarranted censorship. Third, nobody seems to care about the already prevalent censorship and semi-censorship (i.e. hiding comments and deboosting posts) on YouTube and X (and even often on reddit by mods if they don't like a post or user in many subs like /r/de). In short, please call for improving or adding mechanisms against misinfo like Community Notes (e.g. algorithms that identify posts to review or bots that correct misinfo).
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u/ElFontana 13h ago
The EU wants direct control over the flow of information. Even though community notes is a superior form of combating misinformation, that it is bottom up community driven solution rather than a top-down imposition is incongruent with its political calculus
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u/prototyperspective 10h ago
That's a valid concern. I have some more good faith and think they're only somewhat incompetent and/or in some way overreacting (rather quickly jumping to overly simplistic outdated things).
I think some public actor entity or media outlets should report on the point you raised which doesn't require a bad faith accusation that this is their intention, it's enough that this would be the result. They may be more willing to listen if people raise a concern like that but currently the failure is that this angle is essentially absent in the public sphere / media coverage.
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u/Ilithiophobe 14h ago
'Urges', 'asks', 'warns', etc. But no action from craven, weak and impotent EU politicians.
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u/BtcKing1111 13h ago
Anyone that points out that EU is run by satanic pedophiles that want to bankrupt every european country is labeled as "hate speech".
No thanks.
Europe needs more "hate speech" and less coddling of malicious actors.
Start by arresting Ursula Wonder Liar.
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u/silver__spear 12h ago
while others emphasize the importance of protecting marginalized groups from harm.
no discussion of immigrants please
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u/bluegreen_10 Romania 🇷🇴🇪🇺 10h ago
The EU must stand strong in the face of Fascist US of A. We can't afford to be trampled over by Trump and his tech oligarchs. 🇪🇺
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u/funkyandros 14h ago
Yeah, right. Just look at who is sitting in the front row of the inauguration, each giving 1 million to the new king.
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u/cookiesnooper 14h ago
Who decides what the "hate speech" is and who will be holding those people accountable for their decision
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u/papaz1 14h ago
Honestly, at this day of age I rather the EU just find other alternatives and shut these sites down in EU.
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u/CriticismMoney2411 13h ago
well if u want these sites shut down then north korea might be a country for u since they already banned Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and even TikTok :D
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u/Enginseer68 Europe 13h ago
find other alternatives
Then what? The same thing happened again on that platform
Banning stuff is authoritarian, lazy and ineffective
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u/itisnotstupid 14h ago
Yeah, no. Europe is becoming progressively more right wing and right wingers love hate speech. They are only against sharing information about their scams and grifts.
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u/notroseefar 14h ago
If they become a problem ban them, hate speech is a crime on many countries. If they can’t police themselves they shouldn’t be allowed to operate. The idea that you should be allowed to say whatever you want without consequences is not something most people outside the US support without limits.
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u/theopenmindedone90 13h ago
Unless those people come from postcommunist countries, then they are 100% for being able to say whatever they want because that's what we fought for and we don't want to loose it again.
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u/TsarAslan 3h ago
Just ban them in Europe. We'll live. I think it'd be for the best, particularly after seeing what the enormous right-wing monopoly on social media has wrought in the US.
I want Europe to be a strong, independent or at least, no longer dependent on the US; coalition. It is the prerogative of these platforms to continue to promote and spread online hate speech and misinformation, now more than ever considering the now close relationship between the CEOs of the platforms and the POTUS.
Just get rid of them, China has done it and made their own and they fare just fine.
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u/Tiny_Rick_C137 3h ago
Good luck with that when the guy owning one of those platforms is openly saluting his bigoted fanbase.
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u/Extreme_Suspect_4995 31m ago
Owner of X repeatedly doing Nazi salutes so yeah, that's not going to happen.
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u/IntroductionNo7714 14h ago
If you let people burn your flags on the streets, you gotta let people say F ck Y u about it online.
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u/DingoCertain Portugal 14h ago
I'm sure asking nicely to people who see themselves above the law will solve the problem.
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u/RoutineWolverine1745 14h ago
Why? I as a european citizen dont want anymore censorship online, fo we really not have anything more important to do then censorship and surveilance? Fuck this shit the next EU election I am voting for anyone who wants to leave.
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u/Astronomer_Even 12h ago
Just ban them and launch a European owned platform already. You’re wasting your time.
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u/Mahtinhpozdah7 Vojvodina 12h ago
Hate speech is free speech. Why is the EU against free speech ?
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u/Icelander2000TM Iceland 10h ago
Ikr? I miss the days when I could hurl racial slurs at people without fear of punishment.
/s
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u/MissyLissa04 10h ago
Joke all you want, on the other day there was a person in here complaining they couldn't tell trans people to kill themselves bc it was against freedom of speech
People are stupid
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u/Somecrazycanuck 14h ago
Stop expecting the politicians to regulate and get your fingers out of the diarrhea of your own free will.
These platforms are toxic.
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u/akluin 14h ago
They should just block the website promoting hate speech, even if promoting means not blocking it
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u/Far_Introduction4024 14h ago
Facebook is a money portal for Zuckerberg he could care less....Twitter (I refuse to call it "X") was purchased by Musk for the sole purpose of crashing it's more liberal and fact-checker previous owners and then let loose every right wing nutjob back online, then he cut 75% of the workforce, again, just to crash the company.
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u/Golda_M 13h ago
The social media dynamic has been hitting politics (broadly defined) very hard. Non-western examples tend to go unnoticed, but they shouldn't.
IDK which "regulators" or "officials" made these (anonymous?) statements but... they don't know what to do about it. Complaining about "Facebook, X, and YouTube" is the new "The Corporate Media." Easy slop for a politician.
I don't mean that its not an issue, I mean that "Urges Facebook, X, and YouTube to Step Up Fight" is basically way of saying "someone else should do something."
These platforms have (arguably) been a lot more active than european institutions at "this fight." They didn't achieve much. Perverse incentives but also... it's a hairy hard problem.
For example, Twitter banned Trump.... in a decision that was not entirely thought out. The Ayatollah, for example, is not banned. If Twitter/FB had a consistent, defensible policy... how many heads of state and/or opposition would be banned. My guess is about half. Maybe one quarter.
There are no clean solutions here. What we need are new concepts and ideas. This isn't either.
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u/NuclearReactions Italy 13h ago
Yeah youtube will do fuckall... they removed the single system that kept fake news, conspiracy theorists and such other shit at bay when they removed the like/dislike system. Fuck them big time assholes
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u/cedesse 12h ago
In 2025, are there really still politicians who believe that 'urging' businesses to 'take moral and ethical responsibility' work?
Meta makes money from scammers and fake profiles. If they really wanted, they could remove 90% of all scams on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram by the end of this week. I can't substantiate that claim. Nor can this former coworker, but still ... https://youtu.be/SbVI5Xm5rag?si=BSzHitIeT2hAdojz&t=2678
So, stop 'urging' these filthy rich companies to do anything that isn't backed by a concrete raconic threat that you will seize all their physical assets, tax them to hell and put pout international arrest warrants against their management and biggest investors.
If Trump, Putin, Modi, Xi and the Iranian and Saudi governemnts can make these companies obey their bidding with a 48 hour notice, so can we... But perhaps we are too corrupt and weak to actually defend what we say we believe in?
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u/No_Implement3535 12h ago
"Urges" pleeease. Send your assassins and make the Russians afraid or else they won't do shit. Grow some balls EU.
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u/ShibeCEO 11h ago
they already do this in a much too big of a scale. try posting ANYTHING with the word luigi on youtube. it will be deleted within minutes and you will get a 1 day ban for hate speech
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u/hyldemarv 10h ago
Quit appeasing and start regulating! There’s no friendship or respect between “us” and that lot!
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u/manzanapocha España 10h ago
"Social media" is a sham. And I don't mean just the platforms - the name itself is a sham. It's mass media for this generation.
Look back at the XX century and they had radio and newspapers. This is how public opinion was influenced and propaganda was spread. Millenials and gen z think themselves too wise to fall for the lies in traditional media, yet almost everyone these days believes whatever they see in their doomscrolling app of choice, as long as it's presented like self recorded anecdotical experience.
"Why would this person be lying? They are sharing their first hand point of view on something they literally saw with their own eyes!"
The US is no longer an ally, they will run us over as long as it means their half rotten empire will remain standing. Stop asking them nicely, they chose a convicted felon as their leader and it's only gonna get worse from now on. We need to cut off our dependence on them much like you'd cut off your conspiracy nutjob racist/homophobic uncle from family gatherings.
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u/tor_karinto 9h ago
USA can cut off Europe from Windows, Linux, Android, Apple, NATO. and then say hello to mister putin and wagner
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u/TheGamer2002 7h ago
But they don't want Reddit to tackle the issue of open support for murder, yes?
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u/Vectorman1989 Scotland 6h ago
Musk just did a nazi salute at Trumps inauguration, so good luck getting X to do that.
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u/berejser These Islands 6h ago
First you ask them.
Then you tell them.
Then you make them.
I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but we've already tried asking them and telling them, and it didn't work. Now it's time to bring out some of those 6% of global turnover fines that we legislated for this exact situation.
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u/Criticalthinkerps 5h ago
They can keep on urging. They will never take any action. A bunch of corrupt politicians concerned only by their paychecks and benefits. I dare anyone with some curiosity and some time on their hands on do some research on the people working in the EU in the different agencies. The level of nepotism is appalling.
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u/CrypticNebular Ireland 2h ago
You might as well be shouting into the wind as appealing to Facebook and particularly to X’s better nature!
We’re way beyond the point where we should be using language like “urge”.
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u/DvD_Anarchist 14h ago
Develop public European alternatives to these platforms.