Ireland’s Leader Leo Varadkar Pushes for New “Hate Speech” Laws

If you’re tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is using recent riots in Dublin to push for more online censorship laws and further restrictions to speech. Thursday night in Dublin was marked by significant disturbances as various groups engaged in a riot, damaging storefronts, setting vehicles ablaze, and confronting law enforcement officers. The chaos erupted in the city center, triggered by an earlier incident involving a knife attack against children by a perpetrator whose name has been kept out of the press but is said to be an immigrant to Ireland, having lived in the country for 20 years. Authorities blamed the spread of “false information” as key factors contributing to the unrest and are now pushing a crackdown on online speech. Varadkar pointed out that any new legislation would be carefully crafted to target only those actions that clearly incite violence and hatred, somehow without infringing upon the right to free speech. “It’s now very obvious to anyone who would have doubted it that our incitement to hatred legislation is not up to date for the social media age,” Varadkar said. Yet, Varadkar doesn’t specify who will be the arbiter of what constitutes “hatred.” Varadkar reaffirmed his confidence in An Garda Síochána (the national police and security service of Ireland) and the justice system to deal with those responsible for criminal acts. Ireland has already been working on new censorship laws for some time. The Irish Senate…Ireland’s Leader Leo Varadkar Pushes for New “Hate Speech” Laws