Davos Elites Push for Speech Control

By | January 25, 2024

NEW YORK, January 26 (C-Fam) Progressive world leaders and heads of major media companies took the stage at the World Economic Forum (WEF) to reaffirm their commitment to “fight” misinformation. This globalist effort is widely recognized as used to eliminate conservative opinions on topics such as abortion, sexual identity, national sovereignty, and COVID-19.

In response to growing public skepticism towards the globalist agenda, the WEF designated this year’s session as one of “rebuilding trust.” Throughout the event, several speakers reiterated that “misinformation” erodes trust in international institutions and world leaders have a moral imperative to combat it. However, progressives often use the word “misinformation” to describe anti-globalist and anti-progressive speech, not necessarily false speech.

Tirana Hassan, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, linked today’s “misinformation climate” with authoritarianism. Hassan said that “warning signs [of authoritarianism] appear…with concepts such as protecting family values or safeguarding our traditions” and that the public needs to pay close attention to them. “They are often self-serving, manipulative, and almost always harm people and restrict human rights.”

Hassan went on to say that “Another example is where women’s rights come under attack…governments telling women…whether they can be pregnant or not…in Florida, educational censorship where students are prohibited from learning about sexual and gender identity.”

The WEF Global Risk Report 2024 cites misinformation and disinformation as the world’s biggest short-term risks. The WEF launched an initiative entitled “Misinformation and COVID-19 – Strategic Intelligence” that promoted the mainstream COVID-19 response narrative, but they have since taken down the webpage.

Meredith Kopit Levien, President and CEO of the New York Times, said that “Google has made real progress on how things are indexed,” meaning that Google is effective at generating and promoting the “right kind” of content at the top of the Google Search Results page, while “undesirable information” is pushed down, taking a real escapade to find. Many users are familiar with that, especially in the context of COVID-19, when surfing through tens of Google pages was necessary to reach non-mainstream content, only to discover that it was, in fact, accurate.
The mission to control speech is gaining weight at the EU, as well. In her address, Ursula von Leyen, the President of the EU Commission, said that “for the global business community, the top concern for the next two years is not conflict or climate. It is disinformation and misinformation.” Von Leyen also said that “the values we cherish offline should also be protected online.” These values include abortion access and legalization of same-sex marriage, which are listed as EU priorities in UN Human Rights Fora in 2024.

Vera Jourová, the Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, said that the EU is “focusing on improving the system so people will get the right facts.” She commended online fact checking features and said that “[The EU] has all the big tech under the commitment… [to push against] disinformation.”

In their talks, Leyen and Jourová also referenced The Digital Service Act, a EU legislative proposal setting rules to regulate online platforms and services across the EU. The Act features a section on “mitigation of risks, such as manipulation and disinformation.” Starting with February 17th, The Act is expected to be binding on all regulated entities and EU Member states will be asked to establish Digital Services Coordinators.

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter