The censors who’ll save us from ourselves… yeah right!

• Nick Hanne writes –

There’s a common malady suffered by bureaucracies the world over. They wish to save us from ourselves. Sadly, NZ officials are no less prone to exhibiting symptoms of this occupational condition.

Observe, for instance, the reaction from certain public figures to the news the Department of Internal Affairs has abandoned the formation of a new online super regulator. Without the new state entity criminal activity, according to these critics, we’ll now have free rein on the internet.

No great rush among global leaders to pitch in on ‘hate speech’ at Paris summit

The ranks of world leaders who will attend the summit in Paris on Wednesday next week to grapple with hate  speech and social media are looking somewhat thin.

Called by PM Jacinda Ardern and France’s President Emmanuel Macron, the conference is billed as seeing “world leaders and CEOs of tech companies agree to a pledge called the ‘Christchurch Call’ to eliminate  terrorist and violent extremist content online.”

Both leaders say the two nations will bring together countries and tech companies in an attempt to bring to an end the ability to use social media to organise and promote terrorism and violent extremism, in the wake of the March 15 terrorist attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Problem is, few world leaders seem eager to attend. At a recent count there might be five or six including Jordan and Indonesia.