State Department Official Grilled On US Accusing Allies Of Censorship In Recent Human Rights Report

Forbes Breaking News

During a State Department press briefing on Tuesday, Spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about the United States accusing European allies of censorship in its recent Human Rights Report.

Transcript

00:00Can I actually continue with what Tom was asking?

00:09Sure.

00:10You mentioned in the Human Rights Report that you see politically biased in the past,

00:15and censorship is something that has been taken up.

00:17Why is this a human rights abuse in your view?

00:21I mean, Secretary Rubio has himself said that the United States is going to monitor social media,

00:25people coming to the United States, that they should keep it open.

00:28He's revoked visas on accounts of statements that people have made.

00:32Why in this case, in the case of the UK, in the case of Germany, in the case of France,

00:36why is this a human rights violation?

00:37Well, I can tell you that we consider freedom of expression to be a foundational component of a functioning democracy.

00:43Societies are strengthened by free expression of opinion, and government censorship is intolerable in a free society.

00:51Freedom of expression does remain under threat in many parts of the world,

00:55as outlined in the 2024 Human Rights Report.

00:58Governments continue to use censorship, arbitrary or unlawful surveillance,

01:03and restrictive laws against disfavored voices, often on political or religious grounds.

01:10And no matter, really, how disagreeable someone's speech may be, criminalizing it or silencing it by force

01:18only serves as a catalyst for further hatred, suppression, and polarization. That's why.

01:24Thanks for your response. Can I just pursue that, though?

01:26In the case of the UK in particular, and in the case of Germany, because of its history,

01:29incitement is considered something that could be criminally liable.

01:34Does the United States see that as absolutely wrong, for example, for the UK to say that this is a public safety issue,

01:40people might attack migrants because they falsely think it is?

01:44Well, again, as I've said at the start, I'm not going to go into the details of what is found or discussed in each of the country reports.

01:51And I'm going to leave it at that. All right.

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