15 June 2021
From Russia with Love
On 15 June, the Hungarian Parliament is expected to vote on a legislative package on stricter actions against paedophile offenders. Attached to this noble cause, the ruling party seeks to prohibit the “representation” and “promotion” of LGBTI identities to minors. The proposal would outlaw almost any mention of sexual and gender minorities in schools. Continue reading >>
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07 June 2021
Fighting Platforms and the People, not the Pandemic
To control social media-driven criticism against its handling of the COVID-19 crisis, the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, can now take advantage of new powers via the Information Technology Rules 2021. These Rules empower the Modi government to counter disinformation, whose definition seems to have been stretched to include content that portrays the government negatively. How Big Tech platforms react will have a domino effect on users’ freedom of expression and right to privacy across the world. Continue reading >>
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18 May 2021
A Ghost that Haunts European Democracies
In Turkey, Spain and Poland, lèse-majesté laws are weaponised against opposition: The conviction and imprisonment of Marxist rapper Pablo Hasél sparked mass protests across Spain, and the 20-year-old Wiktoria K. who shouted “f*** Duda” during last year’s demonstrations and received a guilty verdict on grounds of “insulting the President” in March 2021. The very existence of lèse-majesté laws poses a threat to the right to dissent. It is a vital democratic duty to cast such laws into the dustbin of history. Continue reading >>06 April 2021
A Nation (Un)Dignified
The recent jurisprudence of Hungarian apex courts based on changes inserted into the Hungarian Fundamental Law of 2011, and the provisions of the 2013 Civil Code on “violating the dignity of the Hungarian nation” set a dangerous precedent that could be broadly applied against critics of the government, aka the EU’s first electoral autocracy. The present blog post critically analyses a judgment of the Hungarian Supreme Court (Kúria) of March 2021, which is highly likely to produce a chilling effect. Continue reading >>
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29 March 2021
Intimidation through Litigation
Last week, legal proceedings were initiated against a Polish writer as well as a couple of high school students for allegedly insulting Polish President Andrzej Duda. These proceedings are just the latest examples of how Polish authorities or their allies attempt to intimidate and silence critics by means of litigation. Continue reading >>
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29 January 2021
Does Twitter trump Trump?
Some of the biggest social media platforms recently decided to suspend the accounts of former US President Donald Trump. Even though such bans are not unprecedented, the fact that it concerned the then-still US President has triggered quite some controversy. But what about the European perspective - would the doctrine of positive obligations under Article 10 ECHR mean that Donald Trump’s right to freedom of expression was violated? Continue reading >>28 November 2020
The Rise of a Dissuasive Democracy in France
On November 24, 2020 the French National Assembly adopted the Global Security Act by a wide margin. The bill entrenches the cooperation between public and private security forces, broadly regulates the use of surveillance drones, and strengthens the legal protection offered to security officers identified on videos that circulate on social media. The GSA is a perfect illustration of what I call a dissuasive democracy, meaning a regime where civil liberties are facially guaranteed by the constitution, but where laws and regulations are designed to dissuade individuals from exercising their civil liberties. Continue reading >>08 November 2020
Control through Intervention
In October 2020, the director of the Musée d’Histoire de Nantes announced the postponement of an upcoming exhibition on Mongol history and culture. The exhibition was supposed to be the result of a collaboration between the Nantes museum and the Inner Mongolia Museum in Hohhot, China. The decision of postponement came amidst an accusation of interference from the Chinese Bureau of Cultural Heritage. According to the director, The Chinese Bureau requested unprecedented control over the exhibition’s organization, including eliminating references to the Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan. The director of the Nantes Museum stated that the breakdown in the collaboration was caused by the Chinese Bureau’s attempt to ‘rewrite history and erase Mongol culture’; an effort the museum could not abide by. Continue reading >>
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06 November 2020
Academic Freedom, the Republic and “Islamo-Leftism”
The government in France is currently reforming the organization of the university system. On 28 October and in response to the killing of history teacher Samuel Paty, the Senate has introduced a new, contentious, problematic and authoritarian provision. It reads: “Academic freedom is exercised having regard to the values of the Republic”. This provision is unconstitutional, dangerous and not capable of achieving its supposed goal. Continue reading >>
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06 October 2020