Latest news with #censorship
Russia Today
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
State Department accuses EU of ‘Orwellian censorship'
The EU's online content regulations are an affront to free speech, the US State Department has said in response to France's praise for the Digital Services Act (DSA). The State Department echoed earlier criticism from US Vice President J.D. Vance, who accused EU member states of attempting to quash dissenting voices and stigmatize popular right-wing parties such as Alternative for Germany (AfD). 'In Europe, thousands are being convicted for the crime of criticizing their own governments. This Orwellian message won't fool the United States. Censorship is not freedom,' the State Department wrote on X on Tuesday. 'All the DSA protects is European leaders from their own people.' Earlier this month, France's mission to the UN promoted the DSA on X, stating, 'In Europe, one is free to speak, not free to spread illegal content.'Passed in 2022, the DSA mandates that online platforms remove 'illegal and harmful' content and combat 'the spread of disinformation,' according to the European Commission. Critics in both the US and Europe have likened the regulations to the creation of a bloc-wide 'ministry of truth.' Earlier this year, prosecutors in Paris launched an investigation into Elon Musk's platform X, on suspicion that it was being used to meddle in French politics and spread hateful messages. The company dismissed the probe as 'politically motivated.' In 2024, French authorities detained Russian-born tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov on charges that he had allowed his Telegram messaging app to be used for criminal activities. Durov, who was later released on bail, denied any wrongdoing and accused France of waging 'a crusade' against free speech. He also claimed that French intelligence officials attempted to pressure him into censoring content during Romania's 2024 presidential election. France's foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE, confirmed that it had 'reminded' Durov of his responsibility to police content, but denied allegations of election interference.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia seeks to fine web users searching for content deemed 'extremist'
Russian lawmakers advanced a bill on Tuesday that would fine internet users who search online for web pages, books, artworks or music albums that authorities have deemed "extremist" -- a move critics have called a dangerous attack on freedom. More than 5,000 entries are on the Russian justice ministry's list of "extremist materials", including songs praising Ukraine, blog posts by feminist rock band Pussy Riot and websites critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Deputies in the lower house State Duma backed the bill by 306 votes to 67 and the text will now be sent to Russia's upper house, where it is unlikely to face any major opposition. The legislation would impose fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($64) on anyone found to have deliberately searched for or gained access to material on the list. It was not clear how the bill would work in practice and whether internet service providers or websites would be responsible for monitoring violations. Russian authorities already block access to thousands of websites accused of hosting "extremist" content. If approved by Russia's upper house, the bill will be sent to President Vladimir Putin to be signed into law. - 'Something out of 1984' - The legislation has drawn rare criticism from across Russia's political spectrum. A few hours before the vote, several activists and a journalist from Russian newspaper Kommersant were arrested for protesting against the bill outside the State Duma. Russian opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin, who organised the protest, said the bill was like "something out of 1984" -- a reference to George Orwell's novel about a totalitarian superstate. "This law punishes thought crimes," he told AFP. The bill was originally about tightening regulation over shipping clerks but evolved as lawmakers covertly inserted amendments, later spotted by the media. Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the legislation was aimed at "those trying to destroy and ruin" Russia using the internet. But others, including the head of a state-sponsored internet safety watchdog, have warned that the legislation could have broader ramifications. The editor-in-chief of pro-Kremlin broadcaster Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, said the legislation would make it impossible to investigate and expose extremist groups. The bill would also ban advertising for virtual private networks (VPNs) and impose fines for transferring SIM cards to another person, both ways of browsing with more privacy. bur/asy/djt
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Stephen Colbert declares ‘gloves are off' as cancelled Late Show host takes aim at Trump
Stephen Colbert declared to Donald Trump that 'the gloves are off' in his first broadcast since his Late Show was cancelled amid a political firestorm, as his fellow hosts lined up to defend him with Jon Stewart scathingly denouncing Paramount for trying to 'censor and control' its hosts. Colbert, the top-rated late-night talk show host in the US, said last week on his CBS show Late Night – which he took over from David Letterman in 2015 – that Paramount's decision to pay a $16m settlement to Trump over another flagship CBS show, 60 Minutes, amounted to a 'big fat bribe'. CBS is part of Paramount, which needs the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission to approve its $8bn sale to Skydance. Paramount pulled the plug three days later, with Trump revelling in the firing of one of his most prolific detractors, posting on his Truth Social platform: 'I absolutely love that Colbert was fired.' Colbert came out swinging on Monday, telling Trump to 'go fuck yourself'. He joked that it had always been his dream to have a sitting president celebrate the end of his career. 'They're pointing out that last Monday, just two days before my cancellation, I delivered a blistering monologue in which I showed the courage to have a moustache,' he joked. 'I mean, obviously, CBS saw my upper lip and boom, cancelled. Coincidence? Oh, I think not. This is worse than fascism. This is stachism.' In an anonymous leak over the weekend, CBS had appeared to suggest the Late Show lost $40m-$50m last year. Colbert joked that he could account for losing $24m annually. 'Where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16m?' he joked. 'Oh yeah.' In a gesture of solidarity, Colbert's fellow late-night show hosts – Last Week Tonight's John Oliver, Late Night's Seth Meyers and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart – all showed up for a joke in Monday night's episode. They were joined by other entertainers and journalists including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Weird Al Yankovic, Andy Cohen, Anderson Cooper, Adam Sandler and Christopher McDonald. Meanwhile Stewart, who gave Colbert his late-night start in the 1990s, issued a blistering attack of his own. On Monday's episode of The Daily Show – which is also part of Paramount – Stewart lambasted its decision to cancel Colbert's show. 'The fact that CBS didn't try to save their No 1 rated late-night franchise that's been on the air for over three decades is part of what's making everybody wonder,' Stewart said on his Comedy Central program. 'Was this purely financial, or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8bn merger?' He added: 'If you believe – as corporations or as networks – that you can make yourselves so innocuous that you can serve a gruel so flavourless that you will never again be on the boy king's radar … Why would anyone watch you? And you are fucking wrong.' Stewart then led a choir and the audience in a chant of 'go fuck yourselves', directed at corporations who bent the knee to Trump. Over on The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon noted that viewers were planning to boycott the network over the decision. 'CBS could lose millions of viewers, plus tens of hundreds watching on Paramount+,' he joked. On air, Colbert was visibly moved after his guest, the actor Sandra Oh, proclaimed a 'plague on CBS and Paramount,' paying tribute to his work speaking truth to power while staying funny. Skipping a promised question-and-answer session after the taping of Monday's show, Colbert told his studio audience, 'I was nervous coming out here,' and added: 'I will miss you.' Outside the headquarters of The Late Show, which is taped at midtown Manhattan's Ed Sullivan Theater, protesters held placards that said: 'Colbert Stays! Trump Must Go!' Audience member Elizabeth Kott, a 48-year-old high school teacher, called Colbert's firing 'terrible'. 'It's really awful that it's come to that in this country, where companies feel the need to obey in advance. It's really awful,' she told AFP.
The Guardian
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Irish Museum of Modern Art rejects censorship claims after Derek Jarman film cancellation
The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) has rejected accusations of censorship after suspending screenings of a Derek Jarman film following a complaint against the showing of a gay kiss. In a statement, the museum's director Annie Fletcher said: 'We at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) are dismayed at the current supposition that we would actively censor the work of Derek Jarman and /or any artist from the LGBTQ+ community.' The museum cancelled screenings of Jarman's experimental 1985 film The Angelic Conversation, which depicts the relationship of two gay male lovers, after a parent raised a complaint in January that it was 'harmful' to their five-year-old child. According to a report in the Sunday Times, the complainant wrote: 'Your outdoor screen is displaying close-up footage of topless adults kissing intimately. My five-year-old daughter walks in this space.' The film, which features Judi Dench narrating 14 Shakespeare sonnets, was showing on IMMA's Living Canvas outdoor screen on the front lawn of its Dublin gallery, but was removed from the museum's programming following the complaint. However, IMMA insisted that they have removed the film briefly out of 'an abundance of caution' and that they 'would be delighted' to programme the film again. In the statement, Fletcher said: 'When the complaint was raised, towards the end of the film's two-week run, we made the decision to pause the screening of this work to seek clarification on the implication of showing a PG-rated film in a public domain to ensure we were not in conflict with any planning or screening legislation for art in a public space.' Fletcher added: 'It is regrettable that the event reported on in the Sunday Times has been misconstrued in a rush to judgment.' James Mackay, a close collaborator of Jarman's who produced many of his films including The Angelic Conversation says: 'Who would have thought that Angelic Conversation, the most tender of Derek's films, would offend. I know that we live in dark times but, really, two boys kissing with closed lips. Has it come to this?' Responding to the initial complaint, Mary Cremin, IMMA's head of programming, said the matter would be 'reviewed internally' and said the film was certified PG and suitable for public screening. The complaint was then referred to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland who forwarded it on to the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO). Jarman's film, only having shown for 10 days of its planned 14-day runtime, was removed from the museum as they awaited 'professional opinion'. Fletcher said that 'clarification has been attained' and they plan to reinstate screenings of the film, adding: 'We would like to assuage the valid disquiet of all our LGBTQ+ community that we shall continue to proudly programme inclusively across our site.' 'IMMA has been at the forefront of championing Jarman's practice, developing the first major retrospective since 1995 and a major accompanying publication. We have also purchased his works for the national collection. We have shown his films and will continue to do so as part of our public programme.'
The Guardian
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Irish Museum of Modern Art rejects censorship claims after Derek Jarman film cancellation
The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) has rejected accusations of censorship after suspending screenings of a Derek Jarman film following a complaint against the showing of a gay kiss. In a statement, the museum's director Annie Fletcher said: 'We at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) are dismayed at the current supposition that we would actively censor the work of Derek Jarman and /or any artist from the LGBTQ+ community.' The museum cancelled screenings of Jarman's experimental 1985 film The Angelic Conversation, which depicts the relationship of two gay male lovers, after a parent raised a complaint in January that it was 'harmful' to their five-year-old child. According to a report in the Sunday Times, the complainant wrote: 'Your outdoor screen is displaying close-up footage of topless adults kissing intimately. My five-year-old daughter walks in this space.' The film, which features Judi Dench narrating 14 Shakespeare sonnets, was showing on IMMA's Living Canvas outdoor screen on the front lawn of its Dublin gallery, but was removed from the museum's programming following the complaint. However, IMMA insisted that they have removed the film briefly out of 'an abundance of caution' and that they 'would be delighted' to programme the film again. In the statement, Fletcher said: 'When the complaint was raised, towards the end of the film's two-week run, we made the decision to pause the screening of this work to seek clarification on the implication of showing a PG-rated film in a public domain to ensure we were not in conflict with any planning or screening legislation for art in a public space.' Fletcher added: 'It is regrettable that the event reported on in the Sunday Times has been misconstrued in a rush to judgment.' James Mackay, a close collaborator of Jarman's who produced many of his films including The Angelic Conversation says: 'Who would have thought that Angelic Conversation, the most tender of Derek's films, would offend. I know that we live in dark times but, really, two boys kissing with closed lips. Has it come to this?' Responding to the initial complaint, Mary Cremin, IMMA's head of programming, said the matter would be 'reviewed internally' and said the film was certified PG and suitable for public screening. The complaint was then referred to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland who forwarded it on to the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO). Jarman's film, only having shown for 10 days of its planned 14-day runtime, was removed from the museum as they awaited 'professional opinion'. Fletcher said that 'clarification has been attained' and they plan to reinstate screenings of the film, adding: 'We would like to assuage the valid disquiet of all our LGBTQ+ community that we shall continue to proudly programme inclusively across our site.' 'IMMA has been at the forefront of championing Jarman's practice, developing the first major retrospective since 1995 and a major accompanying publication. We have also purchased his works for the national collection. We have shown his films and will continue to do so as part of our public programme.'
