Censorship spreads in western governments: Biden, Trudeau and EU leaders

Censorship, traditionally associated with dictatorships and political totalitarianism, is disturbingly expanding in Western democracies. At the forefront are the governments of Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, and the European Union with movements and laws that try to prevent content that does not suit them from reaching citizens. Always, of course, under pretexts of defense for great causes such as democracy itself or children.

This week, Elon Musk denounced that the European Commission, the executive branch of the old continent's political alliance, accused X of "lack of transparency" and "misleading users" as a vendetta for the mogul's refusal to agree to censor certain speeches discreetly as required by European politicians themselves.

In a tweet, the European Commission EU Digital Age Officer and Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestage, pointed out that the body could even sanction the social network with heavy fines for the infringements detected.

The Supreme Court endorsed the Biden Administration's 'instructions' to social networks

Despite being the closest current case of an attempt to impose a single discourse, silencing those who disagree with it, that of Europe is not the only one. The Covid pandemic was a great testing ground for politicians such as Biden to accustom the media and, especially, social networks to publish or hide posts as they direct.

The Administration's interest in Biden is such that, despite the fact that the current ruling prohibited officials or senior officials from pressuring large platforms to censor speeches, it resumed contacts with them during the oral argument phase at the Supreme Court.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, the executive signed on Andy Volosky on July 8 as deputy director in the Office of Digital Strategy. Precisely the agency from which orders went out to social media platforms about dealing with content or people whose ideas the White House does not like, and threats if they resisted or were not diligent enough in implementing the instructions as well as for not giving preferential treatment to President Biden.

Trudeau prepares "the most Orwellian piece of legislation ever promoted in the West"

But when it comes to censorship, Trudeau is making his colleagues appear as amateurs. His law C-63, officially drafted to protect children from digital harm and currently before Parliament, provides for punishing people who have thought about committing a crime.

The content of the rule has led psychologist Jordan Peterson to describe it as "the most Orwellian piece of legislation ever promoted in the West." The rule further breaks with legal traditions by giving police "the power to retroactively search the internet for violations of 'hate speech' and arrest offenders, even if the crime occurred before the law existed."