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The thing about Europe: it's the actual land of the free now

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160 points cruzcampo | 1 comments | 11 Apr 25 08:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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snehk ◴[11 Apr 25 08:42 UTC] No.43651672[source]▶
> Yet to many Europeans the idea that free expression is under threat seems odd. Europeans can say almost anything they want, both in theory and in practice.

A journalist in Germany was just sentenced to seven months for posting a meme of a politician where she holds up a sign saying "I hate free speech".

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/nancy-faeser-afd-...

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1. fabian2k ◴[11 Apr 25 10:15 UTC] No.43652301[source]▶
That decision might be overturned later, I'd also consider it very questionable. It's in a weird space as it was about libel, but based on edited text in a photo like often used for memes. I think that decision is wrong based on what I know about it, it should be clear enough that this is not a direct quote.

Not defending this specific decision, but you can find individual cases like this in the US as well. Overall the laws in Germany are somewhat more restrictive in certain areas, but I don't think that fundamentally affects free speech.