Believe it or not, the European Union can now control what Facebook users can and cannot post in the United States.
A recent ruling by the European Union Court of Justice makes it clear that even just one EU member state can force Facebook to remove content worldwide if said content goes against the laws of that one particular state. Content that could be targeted for removal includes not just “illegal” posts, but also “defamatory” ones.
The case began when an Austrian politician, irate over being called a “traitor” and “member of a fascist party,” took the case to court after Facebook refused to take down the negative comments. However, the ruling won’t just affect one political party in one country, but hundreds of politicians, journalists, activists, scholars and even regular citizens.
There are so many serious problems with this ruling, but one of the main ones is the obvious fact that social media filters can’t understand context in the same way a human can. In the United States, social media users have already been targeted for posting memes or parodies, supporting traditional marriage, speaking positively about Second Amendment rights, and the list goes on. Even Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell had his Twitter account briefly suspended when he tweeted about the threats he has received from left-leaning activists and individuals. This recent ruling will naturally cause social media sites to dramatically increase the use of censorship over channels that may “step out of line.”
It’s also worth noting that what constitutes “hate speech” or “defamation” is quite vague — at least in the EU. Transgender folks that lash out at people who don’t use the right pronouns to describe them, often label such comments as “hate speech.” People who believe in and promote the sanctity of traditional marriage are regularly maligned as being guilty of hate speech. Basically, conservative positions on anything are typically written off as “hateful” by social media smear mobs.
This ruling directly tramples on every American’s First Amendment rights. It essentially nullifies these free speech protections by removing content based solely on EU laws. While it would be understandable if content would be unavailable inside the EU, having that content removed from American servers is beyond absurd. The new ruling may even constitute election interference by a foreign power if social media channels are forced to remove advertisements and posts from American organizations, activists, lawmakers and voters based on political content.
Clearly, this is a very dangerous precedent. It sets up arbitrary standards regarding what people can and can’t say in the public sphere. It imposes severe freedom of speech restrictions on millions of Facebook users that don’t even live in Europe — and it’s only going to get worse. Comments, memes, political positions, and photos that were acceptable just a year ago are completely unacceptable today. We can’t imagine what these standards are going to look like just another year from now…
