> Germany is currently actively campaigning to force everyone to use their real names on all social media and force ID checks to do so, a clear chilling effect for free speech.

Source? (Other than one derailed politician, which unfortunately we get to call our chancellor, having a moment? He's still not "Germany", though, not even "the German government".)

> Macron has been railing against free speech specifically in recent months, calling it "bullshit".

I think you're misrepresenting what he said:

https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuelmacron-calls-social-...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-18/macron-bl...

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0xy 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Huh? You're saying the German Chancellor does not represent the German government? [1] Large swathes of the CDU support it as well.

Macron was responding to criticism of the Digital Services Act, which contains censorship provisions for 'hate speech', which is repeatedly and routinely used by European nations to crack down on protected political speech. For example, it has been used as an excuse to censor political views leaning anti-immigration.

The UK in particular has used Ofcom as a weapon to target American companies that enable free speech communications, notably 4chan.

[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/germanys-merz-calls-real...

	▲	codethief 7 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Huh? You're saying the German Chancellor does not represent the German government? I'm saying, there is a huge difference between a random utterance of the chancellor, which by next week he'll likely already have forgotten about, and "Germany actively campaigning" e.g. at the EU or federal level, both of which would require both ruling parties to get behind the chancellor's demands, which – based on how similar discourses have turned out in the past – is completely unlikely. I'm not defending Merz's position, not by a long shot. I'm just saying that, based on previous experience, we're still quite far away from the "actively campaigning" stage and very, very, very far away from Merz's ideas being turned into law. I'm concerned about many things but this is not one of them. Civil rights organizations are already rallying and telling him how stupid he is¹ for suggesting that real name enforcement would be a good idea. :-) It's the usual political discourse. ¹) See how I am exercising my right to free speech and am not at all concerned about being charged for "insulting a politician"?
	▲	codethief 7 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> the Digital Services Act […] The UK in particular You do realize that the UK is not part of the EU? So I'm not sure how UK's supposed "weaponization" of Ofcom has anything to do with Macron's statement. > which is repeatedly and routinely used by European nations to crack down on protected political speech. I'm really looking forward to your sources here. The DSA does not contain any provisions that change anything about the legality of speech. It's mostly meant to harmonize procedural aspects across the member states. https://www.csis.org/blogs/europe-corner/does-eus-digital-se... https://bhr.stern.nyu.edu/quick-take/a-clear-eyed-look-at-th...