The U.S. will “soon” have “illegal hate speech laws,” said European Union official Vera Jourova at a World Economic Forum (WEF) panel.
Jourova participated in Tuesday’s WEF panel on “the clear and present danger of disinformation,” alongside former CNN Host Brian Stelter, Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger and media executive Jeanne Bourgault.
European Commission VP Věra Jourová at the WEF:
“Illegal hate speech, which you will have soon also in the U.S. I think that we have a strong reason why we have this in the criminal law.” pic.twitter.com/iLR1MePTYT
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) January 17, 2023
“For hate speech, we need the people who understand the language and the case law in the country, because what qualifies as hate speech, illegal hate speech, which you will have soon also in the U.S., we have a strong reason why we have this in the criminal law,” Jourova said 36 minutes into the panel. (RELATED: World Economic Forum Lists ‘Misinformation’ As A Top Risk Threatening The World)
“We need the platforms to simply work with the language and identify such cases. The AI [artificial intelligence] would be too dangerous,” Jourova added. She was answering a question from the crowd about making the “truth” as “attractive and compelling” as the “lies” people consume.
The panel was addressing the ways for the public, regulators and social media companies to tackle “disinformation” as “information pollution” spreads at an “unprecedented speed and scale,” the WEF website says. It’s unclear how the panel defines “disinformation” online and how it measures the spread of perceived disinformation.
Earlier in the panel, Moulton said Americans learn in grade school that “crying fire in a crowded theater” is not protected free speech. Moulton’s statement distinguishing forms of protected speech is misleading, according to non-partisan free speech group FIRE.
Stelter was fired by CNN in August and his Sunday talk show “Reliable Sources” was cancelled. He joined Harvard’s Kennedy School as a Shorenstein Center Fellow in September to host discussions about democracy on campus.
The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting is taking place in Davos, Switzerland, from Jan. 16-20. The forum brings global elites together from politics, business, entertainment, civil society and the young generations.