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The EU Is Beset by Pesky Notions of Free Speech

JL;DR SUMMARY A recent crackdown on free speech in Germany highlights the tension between free speech and state control within the European administrative landscape. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

DemocracyHate SpeechGermanyFree SpeechEuropean UnionNancy FaeserPress FreedomAlternative For GermanyCompact MagazineGovernment Regulation

Places mentioned

Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
"I was strolling through Karlsruhe, a provincial German town where Germanys Constitutional Court sits, when I happened upon a peaceful demonstration demanding freedom of the press."
Berlin, Germany
"In June, AfD placed second in Germanys elections to the European Union Parliament after running on an anti-illegal migration platform."
Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
"In 2018, Germany adopted a comprehensive law, the Network Enforcement Act, or NetzDG, which requires social media platforms with 2 million or more users to remove illegal content."
France
"While neither the EU nor any of its 27 member states recognizes freedom of speech and expression with the same breadth that U.S. courts have found in the First Amendment, both the supranational body and its constituent parts nominally accord the concept protection as a fundamental human right."
Spain
"Spains new law code of 2015 contained the usual postwar pan-European prohibitions against racist speech."
Denmark
"Denmark, for example, introduced laws against racist speech as early as 1939, in response to rising antisemitism drifting across the border from neighboring Nazi Germany."
Sweden
"Neighboring Sweden also maintains a law broadly prohibiting hate speech, initially addressing race, religion, and ethnicity."

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Cairo Item ID 61133
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Retrieved 2025-09-10 05:32:43 UTC
Curated 2025-09-10 08:32:15 UTC