France, Google And Facebook Push For Worldwide Hate Speech Regulation

The French government and U.S. tech giants are pushing for a worldwide initiative to regulate the internet — including the issue of hate speech.

The new declaration from the French government titled the “Paris Call For Trust and Security in Cyberspace,” is part of an international effort to crack down on cyber attacks, foreign interference, and hate speech, according to the organization that drafted the document. American big tech companies such as Facebook and Alphabet’s Google have offered their support, willing to promote this regulation as a demonstration of their company values.

The group Access Now, which helped draft this “Paris Call,” said in a statement on Monday, November 12, that it could help counter the actions of nations that defend their sovereignty. The organization said,

“Sovereignty can justify overbroad data collection and government hacking, Internet shutdowns, restrictions on expression based on poorly defined standards of hate speech or terrorist content, and limits on the security of platforms, all in the name of the needs of the state. Ultimately, the Paris Call will reinforce other efforts to improve protections for users and their rights.”

[...]According to Cyberscoop, Google and Cisco were two of the major tech companies who are supporting this initiative. Nicklas Lundblad, a Google vice president, stated publicly that, “We support the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace because as security threats evolve, continuous collaboration with the industry and with governments is the best way to protect users and help create a more secure internet for everyone.”

The same big tech companies that are wary of being regulated by the U.S. government in order to protect free speech, will gladly volunteer to be regulated by foreign governments so that they can restrict free speech. According to The Telegraph, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft already appear to be on board with this resolution, but the United States, Russia, and China have each refused to sign this agreement, dealing it a major blow.