We document the growth of big tech censorship & explain why Johnson's Online Safety Bill could be the greatest threat to free speech in the UK in living memory.
Far from “reigning in” social media companies, the Government is seeking a share of the extraordinary power to monitor, suppress + censor lawful speech on a scale never seen before.
The Online Safety Bill is disastrous for the future of free speech in the UK.
The Bill gives state backing to foreign companies' terms + conditions, abandoning legal speech standards.
This convergence of big tech + state power is unaccountable & difficult to contain. Once we go down the Orwellian road of online speech control, there will be no going back.
🚨 The House of Lords is now debating *mandatory Covid vaccines* for care home workers after MPs voted to destroy our rights in a shocking snap vote last week.
⬇️More to follow ⬇️
This Statutory Instrument is:
▪️ Muddled
▪️ Confused
▪️ Disjointed
Baroness Wheeler asks for urgent publication of clear and detailed guidance for this seismic vote.
"The Department has instead resorted to lying"
Baroness Noakes (@1SVN) accuses the Department of Health of acting dishonestly after they failed to produce a full impact assessment for Parliamentarians to vote on.
Our new report exposes the hidden algorithms councils have been using to screen, monitor and profile people who receive benefits without their knowledge. ⬇️
These hidden algorithms “treat the poor with suspicion and prejudice".
Whilst these revelations are expected to concern foreign governments, it is important to understand this in the context of our own surveillance.
In recent years, the UK has acquired totalitarian-style surveillance powers under the guise of counter-terrorism - including hacking.
UK surveillance is arguably the most expansive system of any democracy in history. Safeguards are threadbare. The state has the power to hack devices of any individual, group, or even a nation. There is no requirement for reasonable suspicion of a criminal offence.