What Britain needs is total, not selective freedoms.
Authored by Ted Newson: In what appears to be a rolling back on free speech and citizen journalism, Britain is fast-tracking a law that will ban non-consensual intimate deepfake images.
This is likely aimed at the social media site X.com after its AI
assistant Grok allegedly generated inappropriate images. In the scope of
the global news cycle and a further ban potentially on the table,
the move couldn’t be more poorly timed. It coincides with social media
bans in socialist Tanzania and a sweeping Internet blackout by the
Ayatollah of Iran. While Britain is not Iran, the direction of travel –
using information control to manage dissent – bears uncomfortable
similarities. Brits are justifiably worried: Is this the nail in the
coffin of Britain’s free speech?
Keir
Starmer, UK prime minister, has already come under an avalanche of
scrutiny for his hand in other undemocratic activities. For example,
many of the local elections
in Britain will not go ahead this year, having also been canceled last
year under the pretext of local government reorganization. Additionally,
arrests over speech and social media posts have increased in recent years, with the arrests of over 10,000 people per year under various Orwellian laws.