Big Tech platforms X and Telegram are the latest targets of anti-free speech campaigns by governments consumed with making George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 a reality.
After owner Elon Musk and X executives declared for weeks that X would not agree to censor Brazilian dissident accounts or pay fines, the company has reportedly agreed to these measures to avoid a ban from Brazil’s radical Supreme Court. Telegram is likewise reportedly being coerced to share user data by the French government.
The New York Times reported Saturday that X’s lawyers affirmed X agreed to censor accounts considered objectionable by Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. X will also pay the fines De Moraes requested and appoint a new legal representative in Brazil, the outlet stated. The Times added that the Brazilian Supreme Court affirmed X’s new decision in a new court filing.
In Europe, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was recently arrested in France, allegedly for not censoring content deemed “illegal” under European Union laws on the encrypted app. Barron’s magazine reported Sept. 23 that Durov had since affirmed Telegram had removed “problematic content” and updated its terms of service and privacy policy.
The update reportedly clarifies that Telegram will share details, including phone numbers and IP addresses, from violative users with government authorities if supposedly “valid legal requests” are made. “‘We won't let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users,’” Durov reportedly stated.
In effect, both X and Telegram appear to be victims of government censorship crackdowns.
Musk had previously argued that the new demands from De Moraes actually violated Brazil’s laws and thus could not be complied with. “We do follow the laws in the countries within which we operate. The problem in Brazil is that we were ordered to break the law by ‘the law’ with a gag order that we couldn’t tell anyone about it,” Musk posted Sept. 1.
Musk also posted in August, “The decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to @alexandre’s (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed.” X Global Government Affairs agreed, “The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that.” [Emphasis added.]
Now, however, both Durov’s Telegram and Musk’s X are planning to comply with Brazil and France’s demands, in yet another totalitarian blow to online free speech.
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