11mo ago

Finland must crack down on hate speech, says presidential hopeful

www.theguardian.com Finland must crack down on hate speech, says presidential hopeful

Exclusive: Pekka Haavisto says being ‘united against all external threats’ is key to security amid tension with Russia

“If we want to keep the country united against all external threats, including Russian threats, it is very important that we can handle these types of topics nationally because otherwise these are misused against us and all kinds of provocations can appear. It’s important that we grow in tolerance as Finns,” Pekka Haavisto says.

The election of the next Finnish president, taking place against a backdrop of escalating geopolitical drama on the country’s border with Russia, is seen as crucial to Finland’s future direction. The head of state and commander-in-chief of the army is responsible for foreign policy, in cooperation with the government, and represents Finland at Nato summits, as well as in meetings with international leaders.

You're viewing a single thread.

7 comments

Honestly, the more I read about the current state of the world, the more I believe “Free Speech” to be somewhat overrated. This is probably the correct course of action, at least for the beginning.
- There are different conceptions of free speech, and an absolutist approach simply doesnt work. It gets abused by bad faith actors. Contrary to shouting idiots on the internet, you can be for free speech and think hate speech should be punishable by law.
  I think especially americans should learn from the history of other countries and their approach to that topic.
- Seems authoritarian regimes efforts to undermine democratic societies are working out quite well.
  
  @gapbetweenus
  It didn't work in Taiwan as we can see, just to name a recent example.
  Disinformation campaigns are by no means bound to win, but we need to be careful. We need more education and awareness in yhat respect, because if and when you are unaware or think you're immune to fake narratives, you're lost.
  [Edit typo.]
  
  Nah, sure it's a coincidence that the rise of social media was accompanied by a rise of anti democratic movements across the world, which are somehow fans of Putin and co.
- I worry about that because while yes it would be great to ban hate speech, I fear that without free speech the vulnerable will be those most curtailed. In my country it’s already happening as we experience book banning

7 comments