PDA

View Full Version : The Euro digital iron wall


tomder55
Sep 4, 2025, 04:40 AM
I posted about England's censorship laws here .

What the left really thinks about censorship and free speech (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/current-events/what-left-really-thinks-about-censorship-free-speech-852228.html)

Monday Brit comic Graham Linehan was arrested upon arrival at Heathrow under the Public Order Act for tweets he made while in the US that were against "trans rights " oooops I mean for women's rights .... .

Comedian Graham Linehan arrested over trans tweets (https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/graham-lineham-arrested-heathrow-anti-trans-tweets-jmrsfghvn)

This was not the new oppressive Online Safety Act which makes it illegal “to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to a likely audience.”.
Online Safety Act: new criminal offences circular - GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-new-criminal-offences-circular/online-safety-act-new-criminal-offences-circular)

This was a 1980s law that prohibits
using words that cause “harassment, alarm, or distress.”
Public Order Act 1986 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email)

This thing is ;his tweets were done in the US where we still have speech protections (for now ) .

If I was a Brit cop I would believe I have more important things than monitoring mean tweets .

But as bad as that is ;it does not approach the EU's Digital Services Act.

Report: European Censorship Accelerates - by Matt Taibbi (https://www.racket.news/p/report-european-censorship-accelerates?utm_source=publication-search&utm_medium=email)

Theoretically Americans like Riley Gains ;Elon Musk and even President Trump could all be arrested as they land in any Euro airport.

Trump vs. Europe: The role of the Digital Services Act | Heinrich Böll Stiftung | Brussels office - European Union (https://eu.boell.org/en/2025/02/18/trump-vs-europe-role-digital-services-act)

The iron curtain is descending on Europe . This time by the so called democracies .
'Iron curtain' speech - The National Archives (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/cold-war-on-file/iron-curtain-speech/)

tomder55
Feb 6, 2026, 05:40 AM
The recent decisions by France and the EU against Musk is the enforcement phase of the Euro digital iron wall .
Commission fines X €120 million under the Digital Services Act (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2934)

France's raid on X headquarters raises free speech concerns (https://thehill.com/opinion/robbys-radar/5722724-europe-tech-clampdown-elon-musk/)

Stalin and Mao would be proud.

If you don't comply with their standards of speech; they will come after you financially . But that is the camel's nose in the tent. I advise Musk to not go to France. He may never return.

tomder55
Feb 7, 2026, 04:32 AM
The iron wall has now been renamed to the "Coalition of the Digitally Willing” by Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
He made this comment at the meeting of 'The World Governments Summit 'in Dubai . The theme of the meeting is "Shaping future governments "
World Governments Summit | UN-Habitat (https://unhabitat.org/events/world-governments-summit-0)

The headlines read of banning social media access to children under 16 . But the real news is what he said later in the announcement ,


Spain will also introduce a bill next week to hold social media executives accountable for illegal and hate-speech content, as well as to criminalise algorithmic manipulation and the amplification of illegal content, Sanchez said.

Spain to ban social media access for under-16s, PM Sanchez says (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/spain-to-ban-social-media-access-for-under-16s-pm-sanchez-says/ar-AA1VyWJ8)

In other words if the Euro censorship industrial complex does not like the content of the posting ;they can hold platform owners criminally liable.

His coalition has 6 countries . But we know the whole of the EU is committed to this cause. Both Elon Musk and Telegram's Pavel Durov have spoken out against this ;and have been targets of the digital iron wall. Durov was arrested in Paris 2024 ;and as I noted above ,I suspect Musk would get the same treatment .

Increasingly governments are using the guise of protecting the people from the excesses of digital platforms as a means to suppress journalistic freedoms in an attempt to silence the voices of dissent.
Belarus court sentences 4 journalists to years of house arrest - Committee to Protect Journalists (https://cpj.org/2025/11/belarus-court-sentences-4-journalists-to-years-of-house-arrest/)

It is bad enough when it happens in a state we know where freedom is suppressed. But we should not turn a blind eye when so called free states act the same way. Safeguards against measures like Internet shutdowns, censorship, and mass surveillance should be a given in a free nation .Instead the move in free nations is for a global sovereignty over digital communication where privacy and freedom of expression is lost to state control over information.

tomder55
Feb 9, 2026, 03:58 PM
meanwhile Spain has opened Euro borders .
Spain to grant legal status to half a million undocumented migrants | CNN (https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/27/europe/spain-legal-status-undocumented-migrants-latam-intl)


Spain is granting legal status to immigrants lacking authorization — potentially 500,000 people (https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/world/2026/01/27/in-surprise-move-spain-to-grant-legal-status-to-thousands-of-immigrants-lacking-permission/)