Name: Poland proposes social media 'free speech' law
Brand: bbc.co.uk
SKU: bbc-co-uk-2372
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Poland proposes social media 'free speech' law

preview

Poland's government has proposed a new law to stop social media platforms deleting content or banning users who do not break Polish laws.The proposed bill would see social networks fined up to 50 million zloty (£9.8m, $13.4m) for failing to restore deleted posts or accounts.Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced the "freedom of speech protection" bill on Friday.The law would also establish a "freedom of speech council".The council would be able to order social networks such as Facebook or Twitter to restore deleted content, or unblock a user's account following a review, Mr Ziobro said. Social media users in Poland who had been blocked or had content deleted would be able to complain directly to the platform, which would have to respond within 24 hours.If a social media company refused to comply with an order, the council would be able to issue a fine of between 50,000 and 50 million zloty.Mr Ziobro leads a hard-right junior coalition partner in the Polish government. His party claims that traditional Roman Catholic values are under threat from LGBT rights.He said large internet corporations were increasingly limiting freedom of speech."Often, the victims of 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," Mr Ziobro said recently.Under the proposed bill, members of the free speech council would be appointed for six-year terms by a three-fifths majority vote in parliament, in an attempt to safeguard pluralism, Mr Ziobro said. They would be experts, not politicians.Poland's prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that protecting freedom of speech on the internet is a priority for him and has warned against "political correctness". "Censorship is not and cannot be accepted," he wrote on Facebook, which has suspended US President Donald Trump's account.On Friday, the Rzeczpospolita daily newspaper quoted an anonymous government source who said Mr Morawiecki was going to lobby the EU to regulate the issue, because domestic regulations would be ineffective without EU-wide backing.According to Sebastian Kaleta, a deputy justice minister, the measures could come into effect by next January.Twitter's banning of President Trump has attracted some criticism in Europe, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling it "problematic".

Poland's government has proposed a new law to stop social media platforms deleting content or banning users who do not break Polish laws.The proposed bill would see social networks fined up to 50 million zloty (£9.8m, $13.4m) for failing to restore deleted posts or accounts.Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced the "freedom of speech protection" bill on Friday.The law would also establish a "freedom of speech council".The council would be able to order social networks such as Facebook or Twitter to restore deleted content, or unblock a user's account following a review, Mr Ziobro said....

public

BBC correspondent in Warsaw. All comments my own though.

Adam Easton

 News, features and analysis. For world news, follow  @BBCWorld . Breaking news, follow  @BBCBreaking . Latest sport news  @BBCSport . Our Instagram: BBCNews

bbc.co.uk

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

Poland proposes social media 'free speech' law

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS