UK’s authorities continue with the push to bring ever more censorship and surveillance to the country.
During two hearings organized by the Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee, a part of an inquiry into what are considered harmful algorithms and misinformation, demands were heard, mostly from MPs from the ranks of the ruling Labour Party, to censor PM Keir Starmer AI-generated memes, but also Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate.
And the committee heard yet more attacks on end-to-end encryption.
One of the hearings involved Google’s EMEA Managing Director of Trust & Safety Amanda Storey, and the other X’s Senior Director for Government Affairs Wifredo Fernandez, Director of Public Policy for Northern Europe at Meta Chris Yiu, and Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs at TikTok UK and Ireland Ali Law.
Labour MP Emily Darlington brought up a Starmer meme that is very popular on TikTok, which shows the prime minister “jumping into a boat full of migrants in front of Downing Street.”
Darlington seemed worried users might think this is actual footage of Starmer (“no sign or disclosure of AI,” she complained) but really, took this as an opportunity to suggest that algorithms should be programmed, in this case by TikTok, to downrank, i.e., censor content and crack down on memes simply because they are critical of Starmer.
Labour and Co-operative MP Paul Waugh turned his attention to X, branding Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate “a far-right influencer and a self-styled misogynist,” respectively – and, accusing them of spreading “harmful content online.” Waugh wanted Wifredo Fernandez to explain why they had been allowed back on the platform.
Fernandez did explain, saying that after Elon Musk bought Twitter, previously suspended accounts were allowed back – “so long as their (platform) violations did not violate the law.” Not an answer that satisfied Waugh – but how could it, in a country that has “non-crime hate incidents.”
Waugh was also the one who went after encryption during this hearing, suggesting that the technology is only useful to criminals such as pedophiles, and asking the Meta representative this type of question: “Isn’t it true that you’ve turned Facebook Messenger into Epstein’s own pedophile island?”
Another Labour and Co-operative MP, Lauren Sullivan, joined the attack on encryption and online anonymity from another but equally common angle – “misinformation.” And she also showed disdain for free speech.
“So freedom of speech, does that mean freedom of consequence? (…) Those people (who “said and done some pretty horrendous things”) will be held accountable and you won’t be protecting them through their anonymity by this privacy and encryption?” she asked Chris Yiu.
“Where content breaks the rules, there are consequences,” he told Sullivan.
