BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
WHEN Pope Francis arrived in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world, he had a message of peace, dialogue and tolerance between religions and a warning against extremism.
In recent years, religious rivalry gave rise to extremism that distorted religious beliefs through “deception and violence.” Much of that deception has been and is through social media platforms under the guise of “freedom of speech” and has fomented hatred and violence.
Pope Francis said that inter-religious dialogue is the way to counter intolerance and extremism.
He said powerfully, “There are times when faith in God is, sadly, manipulated to foment divisions and increase hatred instead of furthering peace, communion, dialogue, respect, cooperation and fraternity.”
Much of the manipulation and distortion of faith, truth and gross immorality is spread by social media and presented as an exercise of “freedom of speech.” He said in the past that on-line media outlets that live off propaganda are “dirty media outlet(s) that soils the minds of the young and the old.”
Authorities are acting to curb the extremism and manipulation of the truth on social media platforms and to curb hate speech and child abuse crimes over the Internet.
On a previous occasion, speaking in reference to the Muslim Faith, Pope Francis said that fundamental human rights of freedom of speech and freedom of faith must be respected but never abused.
“One cannot (use “freedom of speech” to) provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith,” he said. There is a limit,” he said.
The fundamental right to the liberty of expression comes with the obligation and duty to always speak for the “Common Good,” he said.
The right to freely express one’s opinion, one’s thoughts and speak the truth to power is a most sacred and fundamental right cherished and protected by freedom defenders everywhere. It is a right established by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is in most constitutions. It is a right to be exercised, especially through freedom of the press, without fear of retaliation or punishment or censorship by the government. Many journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed in exercising that freedom to publish the truth.
Pope Francis was restating the truth that the freedom of expression is not absolute and does not allow people to manipulate the truth, spread fake news, incite hatred, intolerance, violence and extremism.
There are some owners of US social media platforms that believe that the US Law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, that “provides limited federal immunity to providers and users of interactive computer services”, is a green light for all online publishing.
However, the EU Digital Services Act of 2024 does not recognize section 230 as a free pass for digital platforms. The precious value “freedom of speech” is distorted and abused by some on social media and can collide and clash with other rights like the protection of freedom of religion, privacy, morality, child rights and human dignity. (To be continued)/PN
