U.S. and U.K. Among 60 Countries to Sign Declaration that Commits to Censoring “Misinformation” and “Harmful” Speech

The United States and 60 other countries, including the U.K., Canada, Australia and EU member states, have signed a sweeping “Declaration for the Future of the Internet” which commits to bolstering “resilience to disinformation and misinformation” and somehow upholding free speech rights while also censoring “harmful” content. Reclaim the Net has more.

The White House framed the declaration as something that supports freedom and privacy by focusing on its commitments to protect human rights, the free flow of information, and privacy. The EU put out similar talking points and claimed that those who signed the declaration support a future internet that’s open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure.

However, the commitments in the declaration are vague and often conflicting. For example, the declaration makes multiple commitments to upholding freedom of expression yet also commits to bolstering “resilience to disinformation and misinformation”. It also contains the seemingly contradictory commitment of ensuring “the right to freedom of expression” is protected when governments and platforms censor content that they deem to be harmful.

Furthermore, many of the governments that signed this declaration are currently pushing sweeping online censorship laws or openly supporting online censorship.

For example, just a few days ago, the Biden administration called for private companies to censor online “misinformation” – the latest of many similar calls. The EU also recently passed its Digital Services Act (DSA) which contains requirements to censor “hate speech” and “misinformation.”

Some government officials, including Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry François-Philippe Champagne and UK Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) Secretary of State Nadine Dorries, even mentioned their country’s online censorship laws during the live launch of this Declaration for the Future of the Internet.

The new Orwellian definition of ‘free speech’, which involves censorship of ‘misinformation’ – defined as anything that disagrees with the Government – and ‘hate speech’ – defined as anything not deemed sufficiently woke – is gaining ground. The ‘Conservative’ Party in the U.K. seems blissfully unaware that conservative ideas are precisely what the ‘progressives’ pushing this agenda want to censor, and already are.

Worth reading in full.

Subscribe
Notify of

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

183 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
rtj1211
rtj1211
3 years ago

I look forward to Jake Sullivan being in prison, along with the entire workforce of the BBC, the Daily Mail, the Guardian and plenty more.

There’s one thing about being pathological liars: you can’t inform by lying, so you must be misinforming.

It’s very very important that all the prostitutes are shipped with rigorous documentation of their lies to the police, so that they are prosecuted with absolute alacrity.

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  rtj1211

I look forward to Jake Sullivan being in prison, along with the entire workforce of the BBC, the Daily Mail, the Guardian and plenty more.

But they won’t be; and you might find yourself removed from a public platform.

Misinformation (it sounds more gentle than “wrongspeak”) will be what our rulers say it is; and they will do what they can to ensure that we do not encounter it to judge for ourselves.

Look at Wikipedia, solemnly advising those who want to find out what particular individuals are saying that those individuals are bad persons, peddling “conspiracy theories” (always wrong) or “misinformation” (not our version of events and situations).

This is a step on the way to genuine cancellation. Don’t listen; don’t look; they’re gone.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

Ooh, the Tudors would have loved all this. Come to think of it, they probably did a version of this. There was a time when a lot of private mailed was checked. So easy these days…

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

Walsingham’s ideal of heaven.

MikeHaseler
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

I heard it said the inventor of the Guillotine was one of its victims.Moral: when doing something utterly stupid … remember you might be the victim.

marebobowl
marebobowl
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

the last place I look for info is wiki fraud. Lawyers get ready we will be keeping you busy. Sadly all the other problems haunting the USA/Uk illegal immigration, homelessness, horrible healthcare, contaminated food and water, air quality, you know the things that affect most people will be put on the back burner while these two idiotic governments seek out misinformation😂😂😂😂

PatrickF
PatrickF
3 years ago

Misinformation. God exists.
Misinformation. God doesn’t exist.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  PatrickF

Ah yes, there’s bound to be some people who will claim to be harmed by either. Now if nobody ever wrote anything…
On the plus side, lts of easy “crimes” to solve.

Emerald Fox
3 years ago
Reply to  PatrickF

“God is black.”
“Yes, she is.”

RedhotScot
3 years ago

Yet another thing for governments to quietly kick into the long grass.

LMS2
3 years ago
Reply to  RedhotScot

Probably not.
But the Conservative Party is signing up to legislation that will censor their own voters.

RedhotScot
3 years ago
Reply to  LMS2

I can find dozens of similar ‘vital’ loony initiatives our governments have passed which have been kicked into the long grass over my lifetime.

Annie
3 years ago
Reply to  RedhotScot

Yep.

MikeHaseler
3 years ago
Reply to  LMS2

There is no Conservative party … there’s a Green, left wing high spending party falsely pretending to be Conservative.

Backlash
Backlash
3 years ago
Reply to  MikeHaseler

And sadly nowhere left for people who were conservative to turn

David Beaton
David Beaton
3 years ago
Reply to  LMS2

They will not need ‘voters’ with Johnson’s soon to be permanent Emergency Rule!

Monro
3 years ago

No question that the internet is being used by states in pursuit of certain objectives. How to counter that, though? Probably best done by using the internet to expose those efforts. For example, the march of Putin’s ‘useful idiots’ is going on right now on this site: These ‘fellow travellers’ belong to fringe political organisations in Europe and elsewhere in receipt of funding from Putin’s Russian political agencies. Their ‘modus operandi’: Focusing of activity on posting comments, rather than authoring original content – a tactic likely to decrease the risks of being detected by social media platforms for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behaviour and/or harmful content. Searching for ‘organic content’ posted by genuine users coherent with the lines they want to push, and then working to amplify these messages, in order that such views are distorted as the norm. This means that, provided the content they post is not too offensive, they are unlikely to be subject to de-platforming interventions. The ‘internet research agency’ coordinates this activity. It belongs to Yevgheny Prigozhin Prigozhin’s activities on behalf of the state have made him notorious……Prigozhin, senior employees and his company are all under US indictment. The ‘internet research agency’ has form: 2014:… Read more »

MrTea
MrTea
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

Do the 77th Brigade pay overtime for bank holiday work?

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  MrTea

Are these the people deciding what is “misinformation”?

Matt Mounsey
Matt Mounsey
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

So anyone that isn’t draped in an upside down Ukraine flag and thinks there are several reasons the invasion is justified, given the context, is one of Putins useful idiots? What would you do with such people and their opinions?

And regarding MH17, you’ll again need some actual evidence that Ukraine didn’t shoot it down and Russia did. Why are the Ukrainian Nazis such angels and the Russians such demons? There are many conflicting sources and people are entitled to their opinion. What would people like you do with them, though?

CynicalRealist
3 years ago
Reply to  Matt Mounsey

The level of dumbing-down which afflicts society now means that everything has to be binary – good or bad, right or wrong. A situation like Ukraine which is complicated and where NATO (i.e. the US) has been stirring the shit for years is beyond the comprehension of a large proportion of the population, so they wave their blue and yellow flags and talk about Putin as a ‘madman’ and feel all virtuous…

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  CynicalRealist

Pretty much the opposite of real life which is mostly shades of grey (though surprisingly few people seem to accept that there are rights and wrongs on both sides of Israel’s dispute with Palestinians).

tom171uk
3 years ago
Reply to  CynicalRealist

You’ve nailed it. It applies to so much: internet censorship, global warming, covid, and all the divisive choosing of winners and losers – bicycles good, cars bad and so on.

David Beaton
David Beaton
3 years ago
Reply to  CynicalRealist

As all their opinions come from the BBC and the Daily Mail they can’t help being dumbed down..

MikeHaseler
3 years ago
Reply to  Matt Mounsey

Why are the … the Russians such demons?

Unless it’s Putin funding the Green groups in the UK … and then Putin is an angel for merely wanting to end our fossil fuel independence.

Boomer Bloke
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

I find it more than a coincidence that the same people who have been lying to us for the last 2 years about Covid infections, cases, natural immunity, masks, social distancing, ‘vaccinations’ etc, are the same people who are now so motivated and vocal in pushing the anti Russia, Putin man bad narrative. So yes I was skeptical snout what they were saying then about Covid and about what they are saying now about Ukraine and Russia. I have also been called an anti-vaxxer in spite of the fact that I had the fill program of vaccines when at school as well as about a dozen more when I was travelling regularly for work. So go ahead, obsess about Russia while calling me and skeptical people like me all the names you can think of. Putin said something like “fathers are men and mothers are women.” That’s more closely aligned to my thinking than anything Boris Johnston and his handler wife, Liz Truss, Chris Witty Kier Starmer, or Joe Biden have come out with recently.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Boomer Bloke

Come to think of it, when did Beijing Biden last come out with something sensible?

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Boomer Bloke

Putin might possibly have a better grasp on reality in general.

Arfur Mo
Arfur Mo
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

The Azov Battalion (with token ISIS member) says ‘up yours’.

comment image

Monro
3 years ago
Reply to  Arfur Mo

‘Focusing of activity on posting comments, rather than authoring original content – a tactic likely to decrease the risks of being detected by social media platforms for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behaviour and/or harmful content.

Searching for ‘organic content’ posted by genuine users coherent with the lines they want to push, and then working to amplify these messages, in order that such views are distorted as the norm.’

Enough said.

RedhotScot
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

According to official sources………….

Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

“Enough said”

Yep: you’ve copied and pasted enough stuff written in piss-poor English – “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”, FGS -for us to know you.

Monro
3 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

Bless!

‘piss-poor English’

Loving the humour (and the ‘English’!)

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Arfur Mo

Metalist Kharkiv supporters aren’t they? Aligned with Spartaak Moscow. Or is that someone else?

tom171uk
3 years ago
Reply to  Arfur Mo

A picture paints a thousand words!

RedhotScot
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

You forgot the important bit:

According to official sources………..

~Ahem~

Superunknown
Superunknown
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

“297 accounts promoted information that Ukraine was responsible for shooting down the Boeing”

Wasn’t it ruled that Ukrainian separatists shot down MH-17 using Russian supplied AA missiles, that they weren’t trained to use?
So they were Ukrainian, just not the other side that also uses Russian hardware, since Russia has been supplying all the ex soviet regions post WWII.
At the time, there was no way of knowing who had done it or how, so you can’t really claim that was misinformation, purely speculation.

Also Twitter isn’t exactly a reliable source for anything, I’ve lost count of the amount of times the news has cited them as a source, only to be proven wrong.

RedhotScot
3 years ago
Reply to  Superunknown

Monro speak with sheep tongue.

Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

Ah, the 77th wannabe who refuses to answer straightforward questions.

Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

I’ve now read all of the comments.

You are the only person who comes across as owned.

Monro
3 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

Small in so many ways, particularly calibre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRd_AW1aZ8M

Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

The person who refused to answer two straightforward questions I asked is now resorting to feeble insults?

I’m not remotely surprised.

Monro
3 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

Open the link.

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

Vladimir Putin sent me this meme himself 😉

1650528597347-768x1024.png
Monro
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

The harmful chemicals will have that effect…….

Backlash
Backlash
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

Anybody giving Putin any sympathy or credibility should be assassinated now for the sake of humanity

ebygum
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

so this total propaganda piece (or as we use to call them…lies)….by the Ukrainians and eagerly consumed by our MSM was what? A little mistake? But not misinformation because only Russia is guilty of that…..yawn!!

The ‘Ghost Of Kyiv,’ Who Was Never Real, Just Got Killed In The Press
Deftly maneuvering his 30-year-old, twin-engine MiG-29, the Ghost jealously guarded the sky over Kyiv. Fighting against the odds with antiquated weaponry he shot down 40 Russian warplanes before finally succumbing to enemy fire three weeks into the war.
The Ghost of Kyiv, real name Stepan Tarabalka, died in the cockpit of his trusty MiG on March 14, The Times reported….
Just one problem. The Ghost of Kyiv legend isn’t true. Even the Ukrainian air force, which once sort of embraced the tale, admitted so after The Times’ baseless story on the Ghost’s demise went viral on Saturday.

FrankFisher
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

So they are payibg me? How much?

Monro
3 years ago
Reply to  Monro

The amount of flak, and the variety of calibre, is always at its most intense when directly over the target.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRd_AW1aZ8M

huxleypiggles
3 years ago

Shortly after this article appeared we had an epic post by one of the newer trolls.

Funny that, almost as if it was waiting.

MrTea
MrTea
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Pretty funny really.
It writes as if anyone in their right mind pays any attention to what UK authorities declare to be true.
Lying tw@ts like Boris can’t even be honest about having a party.

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  MrTea

As I say quite frequently on here my default position is to conclude that any statement from government or MSM is actually a lie. Turn every statement on its head and that’s probably the truth.

Ironic that I have to apply Orwellian logic in order to understand what is being said.

Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Interestingly, the editor of the BMJ said just the same thing about the majority of the medical research papers they publish….

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Dodgy Geezer

Thanks for that.

Blimey I’m rubbing shoulders with good company. 😀

Milo
Milo
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

You know when the trolls hit hard and are all over this story with their comments that they (TPTB) really don’t like free speech!

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Milo

Indeed. My thoughts also. They have been waiting for this.

Wasting their firkin time though.

PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Monro has 1,548 comments registered 16 April 2020 (was that the first day) – I guess they are not usually very noticeable.

Milo
Milo
3 years ago

I’m here every day and I have never noticed Monro commenting before…

Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
3 years ago
Reply to  Milo

Until a few days ago, me neither.

PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

I think I have noticed the name before – but don’t recall any opinions.

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Milo

Nor me. Member since September 2020.

rayc
rayc
3 years ago

Look, conservative hardliners, always all too happy to dictate to others what is or is not appropriate, are getting a taste of their own medicine.

Matt Mounsey
Matt Mounsey
3 years ago
Reply to  rayc

Just because we don’t want you grooming our kids while we’re at work, doesn’t mean free thinking adults shouldn’t be able to share their opinions on any subject.

rayc
rayc
3 years ago
Reply to  Matt Mounsey

The conservative cousins in Iran don’t seem to agree with that assessment… Nor do conservative friends of Mr. Putin who are very much against “sharing opinions on any subject” in case you haven’t noticed.

Anyhow, two wrongs don’t make a right. Neither woke extremists nor conservative nutjobs should be prescribing the world the right way of thinking. It’s just ironic that when the conservative nutjobs get whacked with their own club they start whimpering in protest. Whereas they are very happy to suppress other people’s ideas and opinions if they don’t fit their own ideology (we could also look at history of free thought to prove this).

Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
3 years ago
Reply to  rayc

“get whacked with their own club”

None of the recent legislation restricting freedom of speech is being produced by conservatives.

Julian
3 years ago
Reply to  rayc

The UK is not Iran. The story is about the UK, among other places. Anyway, isn’t freedom of speech a libertarian cause, rather than conservative (though I suppose one could argue that conservatism and libertarianism are more compatible than socialism and libertarianism)?
Unfettered freedom of speech has rarely existed, it’s true – perhaps never. Don’t know when it’s golden age was. Maybe the last century or so in Anglo countries? Not sure; I’m not a historian. Don’t think I am a conservative nutjob either. Just believe in freedom of speech as on balance helpful to bettering the human lot.

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Julian

I suppose one could argue that conservatism and libertarianism are more compatible than socialism and libertarianism.

There is quite a significant body of thought and writing under the general term “libertarian socialism”, but it does tend to sound a bit like something out of Life of Brian: it includes left communism, anarcho-socialism, anarcho-communism, anarcho-syndicalism, revolutionary syndicalism, stateless socialism, left-libertarianism, mutualism, libertarian Marxism, libertarian municipalism and socialist libertarianism.

They would agree, however, that conservatism and libertarianism are utterly incompatible!

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

On reflection, the libertarian Marxists might disagree. Some of them.

Aleajactaest
3 years ago
Reply to  rayc

“conservative nut jobs”

Is that phrase on your list? You’ve used it several times….

Data point.

LMS2
3 years ago
Reply to  rayc

“Conservative hardliners” : not sure I’ve ever come across any. Please elucidate.
“Getting a taste of their own medicine” : you mean, being censored at a rate of something like 54:1 compared to the loony Left, for telling the truth, questioning politicians (because they never lie, right), and quoting government data.

Be careful what you wish for. Censorship can swing both ways.
“Conservative hardliners” have taken over the left’s position on free speech. The Left have gone fascist/authoritarian and promote censorship of speech from anyone who opposes them, especially anyone pointing out the ridiculousness of their beliefs, e.g. “gender is assigned at birth by a doctor”, “women can have p*nises,” “covid vaccines prevent infection/reduce infection/don’t stop infection but reduce symptoms/are the safest vaccines ever!”

Julian
3 years ago
Reply to  rayc

Can you give some examples of “conservative hardliners” in the UK who have in the past given out this medicine, who are now getting a taste of it?

Aleajactaest
3 years ago
Reply to  rayc

This one seems to have cognitive issues.

Can I get a refund?

Julian
3 years ago

The ‘Conservative’ Party in the U.K. seems blissfully unaware that conservative ideas are precisely what the ‘progressives’ pushing this agenda want to censor, and already are.”

I don’t think the leadership and most MPs in the Conservative party have the slightest idea what a conservative idea is.

Of course, there’s no global, coordinated conspiracy taking place among the ruling elite/political class of rich world governments to keep the plebs in their place.

Milo
Milo
3 years ago
Reply to  Julian

Or what a party is.

According to the PM he wouldn’t know if he had attended a party until after sue Grey had published her report.

MrTea
MrTea
3 years ago

When you are a liar and your entire system of control is based on lies what choice do you have but to censor those that point out the truth?

Percy Openshaw
Percy Openshaw
3 years ago

The “conservative” party has been hollowed out by the “modernisers” – starting with Cameron and Osborne. This precious pair began the process by which any authentically conservative or independent voices were frozen out, and it has only got worse. Johnson is the dampest of weak squibs and cheers the decay along, whilst pursuing openly socialistic policies of lockdown, caps and censorship, not to mention the massive impoverishment known as “net zero”. The whole lot is covered with a lot of speculative claptrap which nobody believes and appeals to how horrible Labour is – not much of a threat when the Tories are enacting Labour measures any way. In France, the equally “conservative” Mme Pecresse garnered around five per cent of the vote. The Conservatives face a similar level of support if they continue along this path with the flabby turncoat twit at the helm. It really is time for the authentic centre-right to call, once again, upon the services of Mr Farage and his team to do for “Boris” what they did for “Teresa”, only this time at a general election.

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Percy Openshaw

Your faith in traditional politics is rather quaint.

Our salvation will not come via the ballot box. Do stick around on here though because your eyes will be opened.

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

I agree. I have these conversations with my parents who still cling to the idea a politician can be found who will save them.

This is about power. And there is only one source of power, us. When they take power we lose some. Simple as that.

Mass defiance is what stops this.

Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

Mass defiance would stop them.

But I don’t know anybody who shares with me never having been jabbed, never having taken a test and never having worn a mask.

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

More than you think. They now admit to 20 million unjabbed. It is possibly higher. Definitely much bigger group who will never agree to be injected again.

When you make something a social taboo it doesn’t go away. People are just wary of saying anything publicly.

That’s what happened during Brexit. Every anti-EU person was branded as a racist lunatic. So they kept quiet and voted to leave anyway.

It is always a minority who do anything. That includes pushback.

Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

I’m 61 and white, so not in the least compliant groups by either age or ethnicity.

If people I know are unjabbed, they are afraid to say so.

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

Perhaps but still plenty out there.

tom171uk
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

Lots had two jabs but started to baulk when they were then told they needed a third. That’s possibly the largest group of all.

The term “silent majority” has been around a long time but it is more relevant now than ever before. That’s why, despite all the noise and bombast of the lefties, we keep getting Conservative governments. It’s a pity Boris and his buddies are too stupid to see it.

David Beaton
David Beaton
3 years ago
Reply to  tom171uk

We get the same WEF Government or worse whatever we vote.

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

“But I don’t know anybody who shares with me never having been jabbed, never having taken a test and never having worn a mask.”

You sort of do now – me.😀

Milo
Milo
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

And me

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Milo

And me; and I have a list.

Not on paper or on any sort of file – that would be too dangerous in Oz, where non-compliant doctors (you know, the ones who don’t simply prescribe whatever they’re told to prescribe) have to conceal their identities (I’m serious).

PW
PW
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

And me!

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  PW

Ah, but in “real life” though?

I’m lucky to know some people of similar mind at our anti-lockdown minded prayer group, but lots of people aren’t so lucky.

Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

There’s one here…

tom171uk
3 years ago
Reply to  Percy Openshaw

Keep up with the narrative. There is no “centre-right” anymore. If you’re not a left wing Guardian reader then you are a far-right extremist.

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  tom171uk

Just ask Justin Trudeau. He’s an expert. He can even give you the full list of suitable adjectives.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

Tyrant Trudeau is unlibertarian.

David Beaton
David Beaton
3 years ago
Reply to  tom171uk

In the interest of balance if balance, can we have ‘a far-left Guardian a reader please’?

MizakeTheMizan
3 years ago

Welcome to the Soviet Union. Have a nice day.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago

Hallo, the Ministry of Truth is upon us! Stuff them at the elections…

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

That’s very naive Hugh.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Good morning… oh wait, wrong one – good afternoon HP. And are you a Russian agent, 77th brigade or a genuine user? And goodness knows which I am. Anybody? I need to know…

Whilst you’re probably right that the elections won’t change much (I began to suspect this after the South Thanet farce) I will nonetheless put a vote in, be it for an independent, a new party or spoiling my vote, or whatever, as a point of principle.

As someone in our anti-lockdown minded prayer group said, we may not change much by political parties, but we can at least change our own communities. That is probably a good starting point. And finding ways of bypassing these ministries of truth so that people can get a properly balanced view.

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

The future looks a tad bleak.

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

We’re going to win.

Had an accidental encounter with a complete stranger yesterday – joyous outside a cathedral, soaking up the sunshine of a perfect day, after what he described as three months of confinement. He’d been inside the cathedral to have “a quick word with Him”, and assured me that everything was going to be all right.

I’d just returned from my first meal at a restaurant in a long time (no longer forbidden entry), where I was served by a smiling, unmasked waitress who told me how good it was to see people’s faces. I was in the mood to believe. (And it was an exceptionally good chardonnay).

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

Whoops – the chardonnay was not the entire meal. It accompanied exquisite ocean trout with charred fennel and creme fraiche (don’t know how to type accents).

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

But was it substantial? Did they do the Scotch egg thing in Oz?

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

We do smashed avo.

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

Brill.

Star
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

Parliamentary democracy and the way it works, with debates in the press about what the government should or shouldn’t do, is a product of mass media.

When printed periodicals spread to the gentry, the gentry got the vote.
When radio spread to the population in general, the hitherto excluded majority of the population got the vote.
And it’s closely bound up with the mass market. They’ve got to have some kinda sh*t to wrap around their advertising.

You didn’t think it was serious, did you?
Anyway, who do you recommend I should vote for if I suss all of this and I’m critical?

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Star

Possibly independent, if there’s a good one. One could stand oneself of course. My friend in Scotland founded the Scottish branch of the Christian People’s Alliance (who said from the start that the “covid” virus was a lab leak).
And as I say, you could spoil your vote. Might not do much, but it’s the thought that counts.

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

Until you try Australian compulsory voting, you haven’t lived. We are the world experts on all this.

We have formal and informal votes; donkey votes; how-to-vote cards; and scrutineers. (I have acted as a scrutineer, which requires a knowledge of electoral law and a degree of toughness concealed under a respectful demeanour).

Voting is preferential; and for the Upper House, proportional (you can vote above the line or below the line, depending on how many hours you want to spend with your ballot paper).

There is also the Robson Rotation – designed to counteract the influence of the donkey vote; and the Hare Clark system, used in the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania (single transferable vote with proportional representation).

This makes election night so complicated that it’s the subject of a popular Australian play, “Don’s Party”.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

Good grief. Makes our own proposed “alternative votes” system (which few had heard of before the Liberal Democrats proposed it) sound a walk in the park! (Best thing about it was the advert in support of it where they said “yay” once they’d managed to choose a pub that wouldn’t upset people!).

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

The how-to-vote cards, which very many take politely from each party urging them on upon them, list the preference allocation the party prefers. These cause much comment, and are not necessarily followed. If you don’t vote for the majors, your first preference is mainly a statement of opinion. What matters is what we call your “preference flow”. With some exceptions, votes are on paper and counted physically. If someone thinks this is quaint, I would remind them of the hacking skills of Julian Assange, who got into the US Defence network when he was an Oz teenager with second-hand equipment at a suburban home just outside Melbourne. We trust the people who count the votes (usually schoolteachers), watched by scrutineers: who stand behind them checking that each ballot paper goes on the correct pile; weighing in with opinions if the numbering is unclear; and doing very rapid mental arithmetic on the preference flows. The scrutineers work in relays; communicating the patterns of preference to the parties, who then inform those watching on television: “Well, according to our scrutineers we’re going to hold that seat – the Green preferences are going our way 2 to 1!” The campaigns drive me nuts,… Read more »

Superunknown
Superunknown
3 years ago

So does this mean they will be shutting down most of the MSM and government accounts then?

PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago

IS THERE SOME HOPE THAT DAILY SCEPTIC MIGHT GET TO HIGHLIGHT THE FORTHCOMING WHO PANDEMIC TREATY BEFORE IT IS SIGNED INTO EXISTENCE LATER THIS MONTH?

huxleypiggles
3 years ago

Fair point. The doo doo will fly when that is nodded through.

Milo
Milo
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

But will it HP?

Will MSM even cover the fact that it is being signed – would your ordinary bloke down the pub or on the bus even have a clue what it is about, and understand the implications of it?

And considering the amount of covidianism about, I would imagine that a lot of people would think the WHO pandemic treaty is a “good thing”.

Emerald Fox
3 years ago

It’s already been highlighted and forgotten about, just like the Canadian truckers’ protest.

PhantomOfLiberty
PhantomOfLiberty
3 years ago
Reply to  Emerald Fox

I missed it and I follow quite closely.

huxleypiggles
3 years ago

I wonder who will be first in front of a bent judge?

Will it be a well known public figure or some poor pleb?

And what will the topic be?

Trans rights? Upsetting a person of colour? Disrespecting the wrong football team? Calling Bozo a traitor?

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Are Metalist Kharkiv protected now?

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

Who are they?

pjar
3 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

A Ukrainian Football Club, based not surprisingly in Kharkiv.

Hugh may just have outed himself as a Russian bot farm… ;o)

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  pjar

Thanks. I don’t follow football. Hugh’s a decent chap.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  pjar

They are also reportedly linked to the Azov battalion (if I remember rightly). Like a number of East European clubs, they have a far right element. But since they are now fighting against the “forces of evil”…

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

Nuff said – that’s whoever they say it is, right?

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

Anyhow, it sounds like Azov are more or less beaten, at least in Mariupol. But whatever, they were fighting the Russians, and therefore presumably must not be disrespected. Anyway, I’m not sure that I’ve entirely trusted UK justice since Blair’s politicised “supreme court”. I think this is bound to be bad for free speech (and I think back to a certain UK act which was supposed to be for a few hard cases, but inevitably became routine).

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Hugh

Bliar ? Enough said.

RedhotScot
3 years ago

Partgate and beergate ‘misinformation’ will now be banned. As will politicians gay dalliances, affairs, accusations of murder, and watching porn on Taxpayers time; probably using equipment we paid for.

How convenient.

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  RedhotScot

It is important we shield the plebs from these upsetting things. Just like the Chinese government believe rural parts of their country aren’t yet ready for the internet. It would upset them. Ignorance is bliss.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  RedhotScot

I say, didn’t politicians used to get “that sort of thing” on expenses?

civilliberties
3 years ago

There will be a point when using the Internet will be completely pointless and switching off maybe the only option when everything is controlled absolute, least at the moment their is still room to view “unauthorized” non approved by the state opinions and views, however the point of no return is gathering pace whereby one day anything one sees is just state approved info.

RedhotScot
3 years ago
Reply to  civilliberties

There are a number of alternative internets in ‘production’ as we speak. One by Tim Berners Lee.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  RedhotScot

Best news I’ve heard since shale gas under Lancashire. If (likewise) it can work.

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  civilliberties

They will try. But the key characteristic of government is incompetence.

The internet is hard to control. Plus any clampdown will trigger an arms race. That’s what they don’t understand, when you suppress something it doesn’t go away. And it becomes even more attractive to some.

Backlash
Backlash
3 years ago
Reply to  civilliberties

You’re spot on, people will be sick of cyber interference and migrate back to pubs to mingle and chat.
Everything is cyclical. The internet age brought many conveniences but much trouble, it will fall and find its level

Smelly Melly
3 years ago

Who will “police” the disinformation and who will police the police?

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  Smelly Melly

The goal is to get people to police themselves, much as they do now with topics they’ve been taught are sensitive like immigration, cultural differences and gay rights.

The most powerful form of censorship in the Soviet Union was self censorship. All those writers and editors understood what they could and couldn’t write.

Hugh
Hugh
3 years ago
Reply to  Smelly Melly

Well there’s an organisation called the “Free Speech Union”…

A passerby
A passerby
3 years ago

and after the internet, then what, telepathy?

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  A passerby

If you’ve read Orwell you are not far off. The goal of totalitarianism is to control thought.

Sforzesca
Sforzesca
3 years ago
Reply to  A passerby

Don’t worry. The USA has been working on MRI technology on brain scans to show what you are actually thinking.
In part it is fascinating as it seems as though thoughts formulate in the brain before you actually act on them.

A passerby
A passerby
3 years ago
Reply to  Sforzesca

I was thinking of natural telepathy, not a thought transmission monitoring system operated by big brother.

civilliberties
3 years ago

“we protect regulated speech and expression” no freedom of course.

it does feel like there is already a one world government already in place when you consider how similar many countries are now, if 60 countries have signed this thing then the Internet in yrs to come will be nearly the same in all 60 countries if it goes to the powers plans. this also goes onto the same response to the so called virus and also the move by countries into cbdc and also the ID app credit score etc.

There is also not much to pick between say the UK and china these days, considering the Uk passed the policing bill that among other things has the potential to limit protests, the harms bill when passed will further limit speech and also the human rights act which may be messed with and altered for the worse.

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  civilliberties

This is not true. China is full of the Chinese. The UK has us and our very long tradition of defiance.

Magna Carta did not appear out of nowhere. And that spirit resides within many of us. That’s what they don’t get. That’s what happens when you have a literal elite; they are not of the people and are cut off from the lifeblood of the nation. They misunderstand what makes us tick.

We will prevail.

MrTea
MrTea
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

Perhaps that is part of the reason for relentless mass immigration?

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  MrTea

The major factor for mass immigration is to erode the elements that enable a nation-state to function. Foremost is the notion of being a part of the land where your ancestors lived and died. Perhaps they sacrificed much so you could live a better life.

What is key is who emigrates. Those familiar with the biggest groups will be aware most are economic migrants not anglophile enthusiasts. That is important. I know a number of Asians born here who maintain property back in the old country as they don’t expect it to last. This is especially true of the ones who were part of the African sphere, like Priti Patel. An interesting insight into how they think.

Economic migrants don’t integrate, just as we wouldn’t if we worked in Dubai or Saudi Arabia. It is getting harder to hide the parallel societies emerging in the UK.

Milo
Milo
3 years ago

So, “free speech” has been conveniently, like so much else over the past 2 years, redefined to mean the opposite of what we formerly knew free speech to be.

And it has been signed up to by so many governments across the world, just like the WHO pandemic treaty really.

And there isn’t anything like a New World Order coming into being at all is there?

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  Milo

There isn’t. There is an AMBITION only. But that isn’t how the world works.

Your job is to reject it

Milo
Milo
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

Oh, I do. Fully. Every day. Several times a day. But that doesn’t seem to be doing much to stop it.

It seems to be creeping into existence, fact by fact, news story, by news story. And if you actually join the dots you wouldn’t sleep at night.

BTW, FWIW, despite my post in reply seeming facetious, SFAIK we are on the same side.

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Milo

Let me help with the stiffening of the sinews. Firstly, without your resistance and the resistance of people like you, things would be worse – because authoritarians and tyrants do not control themselves.

Secondly, there is such a thing as critical mass. You seem like you’re losing – until one day ….

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

Bloody hell I hope you are right AE.

MrTea
MrTea
3 years ago

We all know that the narrative demands that Putin is the current Hitler and we are all supposed to bang our saucepans on Thursday to prove we hate him, but in reality our own government’s are a far greater threat to us than Putin ever will be.

Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
3 years ago
Reply to  MrTea

Yep: unlike our government of corrupt Third World midgets, Putin has never done me any harm.

Vaxtastic
3 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

His recent speech about his views on the west was quite illuminating. Not surprising why it is not widely known here. It was straightforward stuff. Shockingly he believes the role of societal leaders is to look out for the welfare of citizens, ensuring they can buy a house of their own, be left in peace and feel valued by their own society that they are making a contribution no matter how basic.

No wonder they brand him as a Hitler. Dangerous ideas.

MrTea
MrTea
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

To be fair that does sound like Hitler.
The actual Hitler not the propaganda version we were all indoctrinated with.

Annie
3 years ago
Reply to  MrTea

What, the Hitler who never knew that Jews were being murdered en masse?

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Annie

Yep – the one who called for the elimination of the Jewish “problem”.

MrTea
MrTea
3 years ago
Reply to  Annie

Which other UK government narratives do you believe?

Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  MrTea

No – it doesn’t. Read Mein Kampf, and check out the speeches.

Milo
Milo
3 years ago
Reply to  Vaxtastic

Good Lord, almost kind of Russian version of Ron deSantis – someone who speaks sense.

PW
PW
3 years ago
Reply to  MrTea

As usual, an excellent summing up, Mr Tea……

MrTea
MrTea
3 years ago

Just for clarification in the future when Boris denies doing something that he did will it be a illegal for anyone to express doubt or to dispute Boris’ claim?

By way of example if Boris stands up during PMQ and he is clearly being sucked off by a male prostitute (probably an MP wanting a cabinet position) and Boris declares that he is not being sucked off as he speaks is it misinformation for anyone to say otherwise?

iane
iane
3 years ago
Reply to  MrTea

Possibly Carrie Antoinette might have a view on that – though the end of her term is surely a ‘when’, not an ‘if’!

huxleypiggles
3 years ago
Reply to  iane

If Carrie goes it will be on her terms. She will have so much dirt on Bozo he probably can’t piss without her permission.

iane
iane
3 years ago

‘The ‘Conservative’ Party in the U.K. seems blissfully unaware that conservative ideas are precisely what the ‘progressives’ pushing this agenda want to censor, and already are.’

Not at all: that is precisely what the current mob of CINOs want!

Woodburner
Woodburner
3 years ago

Corruption empowers, and absolute corruption empowers absolutely…

Dodgy Geezer
Dodgy Geezer
3 years ago

We need to know:

Who determines what we are allowed to say?
What their qualifications are for this task?
How do we appeal their decisions?
Where and when we can vote for them….

Backlash
Backlash
3 years ago
Reply to  Dodgy Geezer

And also where is the definitive list of what we’re not allowed to say? I was thrown off the Telegraph site and nearly this one too for daring to ask how can I understand how moderators subjectively think if they won’t publish their thought processes?

A Y M
3 years ago

Game over.
The West is done.

MikeHaseler
3 years ago

That’ll be “harmful speech” such as Tommy Robinson calling out the Grooming gangs … or “harmful speech” such as presenting the evidence that the Jab was killing people, etc.

The real pushers of lies and dishonesty are the (once)Mainstream Media and the politicians.

Backlash
Backlash
3 years ago

Paki shit arse cunt twat chink nigger coon sooty wanker poofter uphill gardener faggot dyke muff diver wog wop spic frog yank kraut sausage jockey chutney ferret

We didn’t start the fire 🙂

J4mes
3 years ago
Reply to  Backlash

LOL

MrTea
MrTea
3 years ago
Reply to  Backlash

Stop picking on the Tories.

huxleypiggles
3 years ago

Sixty countries sign up to censorship and vicious repression and there is no

Lockstep.

Yeah right.

J4mes
3 years ago

Combine this with the UK regime signing the UK up to be the global epicentre of ‘vaccine’ experimentation and development.

Then combine both with the government moving to diminish the power of the court over itself.

Hello Chinese Democracy!