Things Are Rotten In The Big Apple: New York Law Silences Online Speech

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New York has passed an illegal state law that forces social media platforms to target constitutionally protected speech. The law went into effect in New York State this past weekend.  But if you kill, rape or rob someone you will still NOT be charged and be free to walk the streets to continue your crime spree.

This is a full frontal assault on our first amendment rights. Bloggers, commenters, websites, and apps around the country are ensnared by the New York law due to its broad definition of “social media networks” as for-profit “service providers” that “enable users to share any content.”

Everything, everywhere, all at once.

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Refusal to comply could mean investigations from the attorney general’s office, subpoenas, and daily fines of $1,000 per violation.

This will shut us down.

“The principle of free speech is not concerned with the content of a man speech and does not protect only the expression of good ideas, but all ideas. If it were otherwise who would determine which ideas are good and which are forbidden? The government?” (Ayn Rand)

The law forces a wide variety of internet platforms to publish a policy explaining how they will respond to online expression that could be perceived to “vilify, humiliate, or incite violence” based on a protected class, like religion, gender, or race. The law does not define “vilify,” “humiliate,” or “incite,” meaning it would cover constitutionally protected speech like jokes, satire, political debates, and other online commentary. The law also requires platforms to create a way for visitors to complain about “hateful content” and mandates that they answer complaints with a direct response. Refusal to comply could mean investigations from the Attorney General’s office, subpoenas, and daily fines of $1,000 per violation.

Eugene Volkoh: So the law will mandate that I post publicly my policy for responding to comments that “vilify, humiliate, or incite violence against a group” based on “race, color, religion, ethnicity, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.” It also requires that I give readers a way to complain about my blog’s content and obligates me to respond directly. I don’t want to moderate such content and I don’t endorse the state’s definition of hate speech. Still, I’m being conscripted. By obligating me to do the state’s bidding with regard to viewpoints that New York condemns, the law violates the First Amendment (Wall Street Journal). National Review: The response to this from any self-respecting American must be no less than, “Oh yeah — how about you shove it?” What the private owners of social networks, blogs, message boards, and so forth choose to do with their users’ content is up to them, not to the State of New York — or any other government (National Review).

Freedom of speech is the foundation of a free society. Without it, a tyrant can wreak havoc unopposed, while his opponents are silenced.

Putting up with being offended is essential in a pluralistic society in which people differ on basic truths. If a group will not bear being offended without resorting to violence, that group will rule unopposed while everyone else lives in fear, while other groups curtail their activities to appease the violent group. This results in the violent group being able to tyrannize the others.

If speech that offends a group is outlawed, that group has absolute power, and a free society is destroyed. A group that cannot be criticized cannot be opposed. It can work its will no matter what it is, and no one will be able to say anything to stop it.

Inoffensive speech needs no protection. The First Amendment was developed precisely in order to protect speech that was offensive to some, in order to prevent those who had power from claiming they were offended by speech opposing them and silencing the powerless.

A free society is by its nature one in which people put up with others being uncivil and offensive. The alternative is a quiet authoritarian society in which only one opinion is allowed and the others are silenced, and ultimately sent to the camps.

LAWSUIT: New York can’t target protected online speech by calling it ‘hateful conduct’

By: FIRE:

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sued New York Attorney General Letitia James, challenging a new state law that forces websites and apps to address online speech that someone, somewhere finds humiliating or vilifying.

The law is titled “Social media networks; hateful conduct prohibited,” but it actually targets speech the state doesn’t like — even if that speech is fully protected by the First Amendment.

“New York politicians are slapping a speech-police badge on my chest because I run a blog,” said plaintiff Eugene Volokh, who co-founded The Volokh Conspiracy legal blog in 2002. “I started the blog to share interesting and important legal stories, not to police readers’ speech at the government’s behest.”

The law forces internet platforms of all stripes to publish a policy explaining how they will respond to online expression that could “vilify, humiliate, or incite violence” based on a protected class, like religion, gender, or race. The law also requires the platforms to create a way for visitors to complain about “hateful” content or comments, and mandates that they answer complaints with a direct response. Refusal to comply could mean investigations from the attorney general’s office, subpoenas, and daily fines of $1,000 per violation.

New York’s law doesn’t define “vilify,” “humiliate,” or “incite.” Yet, it targets speech that could simply be perceived by someone, somewhere, at some point in time, to vilify or humiliate, rendering the law’s scope entirely subjective. (The First Amendment does not protect inciting imminent violence, but New York’s law offers no indication, as the First Amendment requires, that it applies only to speech directed to and likely to produce imminent lawless action.)

What expression could the new law reach? Plenty of speech fully protected by the First Amendment, including but not at all limited to:

  • An atheist’s post “vilifying” people of faith by criticizing religion.
  • A posted video of John Oliver “humiliating” the British people by criticizing the monarchy.
  • A comedian’s blog entry “vilifying” men by mocking gender stereotypes.
  • A post about Kathy Griffin “humiliating” Christians by shouting “Suck it, Jesus, this award is my God now!” at an awards show.
  • Your comment on almost any website that could be considered by someone, somewhere, at some point in time, as “humiliating” or “vilifying” a group based on protected class status like religion, gender, or race.

“The state of New York can’t turn bloggers into Big Brother, but it’s trying to do just that,” said FIRE attorney Daniel Ortner. “The government can’t burden online expression protected by the Constitution, whether it’s doing it in the name of combating hate or any other sentiment. Imagine a similar law requiring sites to publish a reporting policy for speech the state considers un-American — that would be just as unconstitutional.”

Volokh, a constitutional law professor and First Amendment expert, is joined in the lawsuit by online platforms Rumble and Locals, which are, respectively, a video platform similar to YouTube, and a community-building platform that allows creators to connect directly with their audience.

Bloggers, commenters, websites, and apps around the country are ensnared by the New York law due to its broad definition of “social media networks” as for-profit “service providers” that “enable users to share any content.” This vague wording means that the law can impact virtually any revenue-generating website that allows comments or posts and is accessible to New Yorkers — but no government entity can legally compel blogs or other internet platforms to adopt its broad definition of “hateful conduct.”

A recent report issued by Attorney General James’ office shows this law may be just the start of Empire State lawmaker’s attempt to silence protected speech online.

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Brandon Lets Go!
Brandon Lets Go!
1 year ago

Here is the text of New York’s General Business Law Section 394-ccc:

* § 394-ccc. Social media networks; hateful conduct prohibited. 1. As
used in this section, the following terms shall have the following
meanings:

(a) “Hateful conduct” means the use of a social media network to
vilify, humiliate, or incite violence against a group or a class of
persons on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnicity, national
origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender
expression.

(b) “Social media network” means service providers, which, for
profit-making purposes, operate internet platforms that are designed to
enable users to share any content with other users or to make such
content available to the public.

2. A social media network that conducts business in the state, shall
provide and maintain a clear and easily accessible mechanism for
individual users to report incidents of hateful conduct. Such mechanism
shall be clearly accessible to users of such network and easily accessed
from both a social media networks’ application and website, and shall
allow the social media network to provide a direct response to any
individual reporting hateful conduct informing them of how the matter is
being handled.

3. Each social media network shall have a clear and concise policy
readily available and accessible on their website and application which
includes how such social media network will respond and address the
reports of incidents of hateful conduct on their platform.

4. Nothing in this section shall be construed (a) as an obligation
imposed on a social media network that adversely affects the rights or
freedoms of any persons, such as exercising the right of free speech
pursuant to the first amendment to the United States Constitution, or
(b) to add to or increase liability of a social media network for
anything other than the failure to provide a mechanism for a user to
report to the social media network any incidents of hateful conduct on
their platform and to receive a response on such report.

5. Any social media platform that knowingly fails to comply with the
requirements of this section shall be assessed a civil penalty for such
violation by the attorney general not to exceed one thousand dollars.
Each day such offense shall continue shall constitute a separate
additional violation. In determination of any such violation, the
attorney general shall be authorized to take proof and make a
determination of the relevant facts and to issue subpoenas in accordance
with the civil practice law and rules.

* NB Effective December 3, 2022

PlatinumGhostD
PlatinumGhost
1 year ago

“The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.”

Free Speech? Not at the Geller Report.
Free Speech? Not at the Geller Report.
1 year ago

“A free society is by its nature one in which people put up with others being uncivil and offensive.”

Yeh well, I got banned from the Geller Report years ago for posting ideas the moderator doesn’t personally approve of. There were no obscenities, personal insults, or incitements to violence involved. So much for free speech at the Geller Report. Of course this comment will most likely be deleted by the moderator too.

Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago

Many people have had comments censored on the Geller Report. The moderator was changed severall times and now I believe that is a modified Disqus, who still will hold or delete comments.

edward kennedy
edward kennedy
1 year ago
Reply to  Snowedin

Disqus is a politically correct mechanism I believe is leftist.

Ted Slater
Admin
Ted Slater
1 year ago
Reply to  Snowedin

Snowedin — GellerReport.com was using Disqus, but it became prohibitively expensive, so we’ve moved to wpDiscuz. Despite it sounding like Disqus, it’s not affiliated in any way.

Have any of your recent comments been deleted or unpublished? If so, I’ll take a look into why that might have happened.

Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago
Reply to  Ted Slater

Yes they have and there was nothing that I would consider offensive. Some of them were posted several day s later like a couple of the other posters.

Liatris_spicata
Liatris_spicata
1 year ago

Interesting. I too have had comments here deleted. Pamela personally denied that she, and by implication, the site, censored anything. I showed her evidence of the deleted comment, at which point she essentially accused me of lying about it (saying I “conjured up” the incident). I have never had much use for her since, and will never again contribute financially to her. I had a similar, albeit even worse, experience with her friend, Robert Spencer. I once respected them both, and still retain a sneaking admiration for them, even though I have concluded they both are sleazebags. It’s sad, because the counter-jihad movement deserves better.

Ted Slater
Admin
Ted Slater
1 year ago

Liatris_spicata — this appears the be the first comment you’ve left. Can you give me some info about comments of yours that have been deleted? I’ll investigate.

Emilie Brand
Emilie Brand
1 year ago

Pamela Geller modestly describes herself as a foremost defender of the freedom of speech She is when she likes it. If she does not, she is the foremost protester against other peoples free speech.

Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago
Reply to  Emilie Brand

Maybe that is why some of the people who were regular posters of comments are no longer posting on here . One was the nurse who lived in Israel and the other one was the one who posted nasty things about muslimes which I enjoyed reading.

Emilie Brand
Emilie Brand
1 year ago
Reply to  Snowedin

The never wrong nurse, disagree and you were reported and should be kicked off the site. A crazy fanatic like her could never stop posting, she must have fallen of the perch.

Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago
Reply to  Emilie Brand

Unfortunately many others and I disagree with you. Maybe you are the one who should be on another site. As you are very RUDE!

Ted Slater
Admin
Ted Slater
1 year ago
Reply to  Snowedin

Ah, I do see a comment of yours on https://gellerreport.com/2022/11/cdc-withheld-fatal-data-on-vaccine.html/ that wasn’t published. Not sure why. It was a good comment. I’ve just published it, and will continue to look through to see if any other comments of yours were wrongly unpublished.

Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago
Reply to  Ted Slater

Ted. Thanks and Have a Great day.

Ted Slater
Admin
Ted Slater
1 year ago
Reply to  Snowedin

Ah, stink. Two of your comments on https://gellerreport.com/2022/11/childrens-hospital-is-stacking-its-bench-of-chaplains-with-trans-activists.html/ weren’t published. I’m sincerely not sure why, as they were good comments. I’ve gone ahead and published them. Sorry aboutu that, Snowedin.

Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago
Reply to  Ted Slater

Ted. Thanks again.

edward kennedy
edward kennedy
1 year ago

What kind of ideas were you pushing? This site is owned by Kelilah. Did you support the site? Were your views anti Israel? I have been banned by sites, for example, recently one where I promoted women as superior to my gender in many ways. That site was anti women so the owner had a right to do so. I did not complain.

Free Speech? Not at the Geller Report.
Free Speech? Not at the Geller Report.
1 year ago
Reply to  edward kennedy

What got me banned was that I kept promoting Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism. I kept posting quotes from her and that really upset some Christian conservatives here because, one, Rand’s philosophy is atheistic and, two, it champions Ayn Rand’s moral code of “rational selfishness”. Those two things can really make some religious conservatives’ heads explode. And a few religious conservatives, all Christians, began to relentlessly attack and insult me and Ayn Rand. They wanted me banned.

There was a new moderator and he basically acused me of intentionally upsetting and provoking the religious conservatives here, that my posting Ayn Rand’s ideas was simply trolling and being a trouble maker, so he banned me.

The irony is that Pamela Geller claims to be a great fan of Ayn Rand and quotes her here all the time. I believe she even called her original blog that grew to be this website “Atlas Shrugs”.

My moniker was THX 1138.

Ted Slater
Admin
Ted Slater
1 year ago

I love the THX 1138 reference. I see that from time to time in a show I’m watching (most recently in an episode of Clone Wars), and feel like I’m in on an inside joke.

Though I am a Christian, I do appreciate Ayn Rand. I’m not sure Libertarianism would be as popular now if it were not for her writings. And we’d be missing out on some great Rush songs if she hadn’t written anything down for us.

Anyway, the policy here at GellerReport.com is to allow for as dynamic a conversation as possible. We do have a blocklist that includes a bunch of IP addresses, email addresses, and keywords. It may be wrongly flagging some comments as spam, and holding them back. I’ll keep an eye on unpublished comments, to see if I can figure out what’s preventing them from being published.

I appreciate your sparking this discussion. You could just use Fahad (or whatever you feel comfortable with) as your username going forward, and that way we can come to know you as a person rather than a drive by. 🙂

Ted Slater
Admin
Ted Slater
1 year ago

No, we haven’t deleted this comment. We don’t tend to delete comments unless they’re obvious spam, or if they are in some way extraordinarily toxic (doxing, threats, etc.).

I see that you have been publishing comments under numerous different user names:

Free Speech? Not at the Geller Report.
Ellsworth Toohey
Francisco D’Anconia
Deceptive Definitions Have Consequences
Vlad The Invader
Doubting Thomas
Just Askin For A Friend
Sigmund
Banned For Life
Patrick Henry
John Dewey’s Daughter
John Belushi
Mitch McConnell

And yet we haven’t banned you, even though you appear to be commenting in a deceptive manner.

I would like to ask that you select one username, and stick with that. That way we can have a more authentic conversation. Thanks for understanding.

Free Speech? Not at the Geller Report.
Free Speech? Not at the Geller Report.
1 year ago
Reply to  Ted Slater

I’m not trying to be deceptive. I was banned twice. I’m not going to create a new e-mail to create a new account at the Geller Report. I’ts not that important anymore for me. The wind got blown out of the sails of my enthusiasm for this site by being banned twice. But I do wish you, Pamela Geller, and the whole staff the very best. Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah!

Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago

Naw Yawk is a commie state so the law to censure comments an attack on our 1st amendment is something that was a given. Californica is soon to follow as well as many other Blue states.

Mr porter
Mr porter
1 year ago
Reply to  Snowedin

Is that why black & white yanks are coming to Australia? Please don’t bring you bullshit over here thanks. We are a peaceful country. Stay in your country pleade. I stay this with kindness. You too U.K.

Snowedin
Snowedin
1 year ago
Reply to  Mr porter

I do not ever plan on going to Australia as they have more restriction than the US. Many Californian’s have been going to Mexico and the Mexican’s do not like the way that they act. How peaceful can Australia be when they are pulling people out of their homes and putting them in camps.

edward kennedy
edward kennedy
1 year ago
Reply to  Mr porter

Your country is a bastion of a hoplophobic people under the rule of politically correct crazies as are many western nations today. I would not want to live there.

Commieobamie
Commieobamie
1 year ago

F the NY MORON Hitler Communists. Shove it up the collective obama hole!

edward kennedy
edward kennedy
1 year ago

If you think that New York is bad, look at the fascist feminazis who violate the right of a sports star to an opinion.
————————————————-

Habs apologize after Carey Price shows support of firearm lobbying group | CBC News

Interesting how the lying whores of the mainstream media refuse to use the real name of Gamil Gharbi, son of a molem misogynist, who was the mass murderer, and not the son of a moslem misogynist who abused his wife. Balanced retired deer and duck hunters and their guns were never the problem nor will never be.

Now a bunch of sirens and their soy boy sops are attacking an innocent man who is a gun enthusiast. Where do these airhead fascist femi nazis get off daring to violate the Charter rights and freedom to have an opinion?

If these latter day harpie hooligan new age inquisitors want something legitimate to attack, how about the aborticidal torture and murders of innocent unborn girls and the mental, physical, and spiritual desecration of the women under going aborticide? Or the moslem misogynistic murder of women and girls by moslems under the auspices of dishonor murders, stoning of rape victims, or the barbaric female genital mutilations of girls and selective female aborticide?

Hypocrisy and cowardice is the standard for femi nazis and why do not these aborticidal pushing head cases not focus on the reality that WEBA proves, that abortion is the mental, physical and spiritual desecration of women? (Women Exploited by Abortion)

From a Remote Location
From a Remote Location
1 year ago
Reply to  edward kennedy

Or the misogynistic forcing of “transgender” freaks onto women’s bathrooms, showers, locker rooms and sports competitions, or the hacking off of girls’ t-ts in order to turn them into faux “boys”? Many of those feminazis are, indeed, part of the problem; they support the transgenderization of society because to them it’s the key to stamping out “toxic masculinity”; and the Women’s March is among those who claim that so-called “trans women” are actually women, biological realities be d—ed. Both in the U.S. and Canada.

Laurence Jarvik
Laurence Jarvik
1 year ago

Move to Florida—we did in 2020 and sure don’t regret it. Why pay taxes to tyrants?

Glen
Glen
1 year ago

Law does not pass constitutional muster. So you will see a challenge and it thrown out. No problem ir worry even if fined.

Je Suis Prest
Je Suis Prest
1 year ago

Any attack on the Constitution is an attempt overthrow Rule of Law and the Republic
Any attempt to overthrow Rule of Law or the Republic is an Act of War against the Republic
An Act of War against the Republic is TREASON
The punishment for Treason is DEATH

If those hired to uphold the Constitution will not do so …… it is up to the People to do so in their stead.

From a Remote Location
From a Remote Location
1 year ago
Reply to  Je Suis Prest

And the media went off on Donald Trump because, to them, he and he alone called for the “termination” of the Constitution – never mind what he was actually saying was the Democrats’ continuous vote rigging, fraud, ballot harvesting etc., plus their continuing assaults on the First and Second Amendments (plus what you described), in and of themselves constitute such “termination.” There are far too many, unfortunately, who’ve fallen for this distortion by MSNBC and other DNC media organs.

Janice D
Janice D
1 year ago

If a person chooses tp humiliate themselves by their own choices of acts, speech or demeanor, then who is supposed to contradict them? New York has such a spectrum of opinions that there is always someone who is offended. They need to grow up and deal with reality instead of this permanent professional victim pose.

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