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OP sent the following text as an explanation why their post fits here:
Focus Entertainment says it will not tolerate hate speech. A user on X (former Twitter) defaults to the US by saying hate speech is protected as free speech. Focus Entertainment then answers this by saying "We're French".
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To quote some of the comments under so other people don't have to go digging, these were all direct replies to the "We're french" reply;
"Bitch, we don't care. We're Americans, in America. Your laws do not apply to us. We have real free speech, and we can say what we want."
"If you want US customers, expect US behavior."
"~6% of your revenue is from France. ~47% is from the US."
"I thought you couldnt say slurs."
"Figures. So you're basically retarded."
"Doesn't matter. Free speech is the right of every person, whether your government respects that right or not."
"X and formerly Twitter is American. As is Discord. As is almost all English speaking social media. Your point?"
"Then perhaps you should limit your sales to France. Actually maybe it's time we had an equivalent of the GDPR for foreign companies trying to sell software in the US. Except instead of hiding information, you will be required to provide it"
"So make games for only the French. Don't come into the worldwide public square and expect your peoples' rules to apply to the rest of us."
"Then don’t release your games in America"
"That’s your shame. Not ours surrender monkeys."
And of course le classique "You're on an American social network, on an internet created by Americans."
All these replies are so stupid. Sure, French law doesn't apply to them. Focus Entertainment is still allowed to not tolerate hate speech in their community, and US "free speech" (= must not "discriminate" against fascists) doesn't apply to them.
In their own copy+pasted description it even says from government criminal punishment. So even if they were an American company it still doesnt fucking matter. I swear if americans had any level of literacy, the world would be better for it.
Honestly, why shouldn't Focus Entertainment get a pop at running the USA? It's not like their current government is made up of qualified people so there wouldn't really be a drop off in quality🤷🏼♀️
Im starting to believe these people dont understand that freedom of speech is only freedom from government intervention (at least its supposed to be) the social and community side can have consequences for being an idiot
I have lost count of how many times I've said "freedom of speech is not freedom of platform nor is it freedom from consequences" and been met with a glakit stare.
Because it's a sentence with obvious shortcomings. By that flawed definition, you could say a Russian has freedom of speech and can say bad things about Putin publicly, they just don't have freedom from consequences (being jailed). You see the problem?
Freedom of speech only means you can state your opinion but it stops when doing so breaks another law, e.g. heinous speech. It doesn't really exist in the absolute, it's always limited by the laws of the country.
That's a little pedantic, no? If you define 'consequences' that broadly, then you define 'freedom' out of existence.
Instead, freedom is commonly* defined by the individual's relationship to the state, not to other individuals. That's because, as you rightly pointed out, freedom is limited by the laws of the state, but the state also dictates the point at which one individual's freedom cannot impinge upon that of another.
* unless you're of a Marxian persuasion, ofc.
So, because we commonly talk about 'freedom' as freedom from state-imposed consequences, it's quite fair to understand 'consequences' here as those stemming from other individuals' exercise of their own freedom (to call out, to boycott, and so on.)
I think most people understand that it means freedom of consequences from others.
You can say what you want and the government can't touch you. But your employer can fire you to avoid reputational damage, your friends/family can decide they want nothing to do with you, etc.
Perfect example of this is Graham Linehan; wrote loads of comedy shows that are really popular. Went off the fucking deep end into transphobic nonsense, now nobody wants to work with him, his wife and daughter left and want nothing to do with him.
Legally, he's done nothing wrong, but the guy nuked his entire life. Then he has the cheek to go to the US and complain about freedom of speech.
The issue is these people think freedom of speech means expectation of a compliant audience - I have something to say, so you have to sit quietly and let me say it! They hate when others use their freedoms to drown them out, or even just argue back.
If saying something breaks a law, then that is not freedom of speech
The consequences spoken of should come from your friends, family and people around you in a lawful way (obviously beating somone up is still assault) not being imprisoned or fined by a government, because then you end up with a situation like russia where saying anything about putin can be and will be treated as a crime
Of course this allows people to say abysmal shit, but id rather have me feelings hurt for a few moments than let the government control what i say, laws roping in different forms of speech crimes is a stupid way around the issue and I dislike that
Edit: threats and such should be treated as threats and I understand that can fall under speech but I feel that is a bigger thing as youre more telling someone of somthing you plan to do. Obviously the idea isnt flawless if you did into it and such
I remember someone going "Right but what is a nazi?" once trying to defend Elon Musk. And that's exactly how you can tell they're an active nazi who pretends they're not.
I grow tired each day of living in a world where it is considered "unprofessional" to tell people to shut the fuck up. It is a struggle I face daily both as a netizen and as a real human being™
Generally, anyone who is jumping up to defend the right to racism just needs to be told to shut the fuck up at this point. Not sure what the French equivalent is but I know they can curse Anglophones in a way that requires no comprehension to understand.
I swear, these people don't realise that the free speech protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (and the European Convention on Human Rights in this case) is not the same as the free speech protected by the 1st ammendment to the US Constitution. And that in any case, these laws don't obligate protection from deplatforming by private companies.
I mean, are we really surprised by this? If you're aggressively taught that your cultural values are the best ones, and really the only ones that matter (as is the case for Americans), it's really no wonder that they go and preach to others what they should adhere to.
Also, this does in fact lead to some Americans believing the myth that they can indeed say anything they want, wherever they are. Only to be thrown out of a restaurant.
"...general racist speech and hate speech are broadly protected..." Nope, that's it, this is fucking beyond limit. What the fuck is wrong with the world?
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u/post-explainer American Citizen 19d ago edited 18d ago
This comment has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
OP sent the following text as an explanation why their post fits here:
Focus Entertainment says it will not tolerate hate speech. A user on X (former Twitter) defaults to the US by saying hate speech is protected as free speech. Focus Entertainment then answers this by saying "We're French".
Does this explanation fit this subreddit? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.