Now Big Tech is coming for your money

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In a review of these practices for the Free Speech Union (FSU), I found that a majority of payment processors and crowdfunding platforms use vague, subjective language in their policies. Not only do they have the usual prohibitions on ‘hate speech’ – their guidelines also ban ‘code words and slogans’ that could be ‘proxies’ for beliefs they do not approve of. This approach gives these firms expansive scope to deny services to users, potentially based on the mere perception of heretical political views.

Carrie Clark, Spiked, 6th November 2022.

Tory MP Takes on PayPal

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The Free Speech Union welcomed the move and joined Hart’s call for the government to support the amendment. Toby Young, General Secretary of the organisation, said: “Every MP who’s concerned about the emergence of a Chinese-style social credit system in the U.K. should support this amendment. British people should not be denied access to essential financial services because some liberal authoritarian in California disapproves of their political views. It’s cancel culture at its worst.”

Guido Fawkes, 3rd November 2022.

Online Safety Bill to be rewritten amid fears Nicola Sturgeon could hijack it

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Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, explained: “The Bill says that if something is unlawful in any part of the UK, social media platforms will be obliged to remove it in every part of the UK. Scotland’s Hate Crime Act criminalises vast swathes of speech which you can say in the rest of the UK – which is perfectly legal elsewhere in the UK.”

Camilla Turner, The Telegraph, 3rd November 2022.

British MP Wants Law to Stop Digital Payment Firms Like PayPal Withdrawing Service Over Political Views

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It shut down the account of the Free Speech Union (FSU), an organisation that defends people who have lost work or been canceled for expressing their opinions, and the Daily Sceptic news site. Both were founded by Associate Editor of The Spectator, Toby Young. At the time, Young told The Epoch Times that “this feels like an escalation in the ongoing war against free speech by Big Tech.”

Owen Evans, The Epoch Times, 2nd November 2022.

“Offensive” Tom Moore tweet’s author appeals to European court

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Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, told STV News: “What Joseph Kelly said was undoubtedly offensive, but we don’t believe anyone should be prosecuted for being offensive. This out-of-date law is about to be repealed in England and Wales and if this appeal is successful, I cannot see it remaining on the statute books in Scotland for much longer.”

Kevin Scott, STV News, 1st November 2022.

Man, 36, found guilty of posting “grossly offensive” tweet about Captain Sir Tom Moore saying “burn auld fella buuuuurn” plans to appeal conviction at European Court of Human Rights

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He is being supported by campaign group the Free Speech Union who have set up a crowdfunding page to help pay for his legal expenses. It has so far raised more than £1,000.

Danya Bazaraa, MailOnline, 31st October 2022.

Cambridge alumni pulling funding from college after academics said gender speaker was “hateful”

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The Free Speech Union (FSU) has also written to Cambridge’s vice-chancellor asking him to confirm that future speakers will not be “denounced and defamed by senior leaders”, while a new group called Alumni For Free Speech has alleged breaches of equality legislation.

Ewan Somerville, The Telegraph, 29th October 2022.

Teachers’ union claims challenging radical gender ideology is “transphobic”

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In a letter to the NEU’s Joint General Secretaries, Free Speech Union founder Toby Young warned that the proposal is “excessively broad” and would have “the effect of silencing any challenge to gender critical ideology or the agenda of transrights activists”. He said: “Many people, not just gender critical feminists, reject the idea that sex is a social construct, and, according to the courts, the belief that sex is binary and immutable is a lawful and reasonable point-of-view, deserving of protection under the Equality Act 2010. Such people should not be compelled to make statements or endorse ideology that they do not believe”.

The Christian Institute, 28th October 2022.

Victorian novel gets trigger warning over “classism” that may upset modern students

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This Wednesday night the Free Speech Union said: “If Warwick University’s English Department believes its students are so fragile they may not be able to cope with novels by Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Bronte, wouldn’t it be better to advise them to stay in their rooms for three years, hiding under their beds?”

Giles Sheldrick, Express, 26th October 2022.

Calling students by their names “too upsetting”, says top university

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But Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, labelled the change a “crackpot” idea. “This seems like a parody of political correctness gone mad,” he raged. “It’s the sort of thing you’d see in a Netflix satire of the ideological capture of universities by woke cultists.”

Iwan Stone, Metro, 26th October 2022.

In the Media

Articles That Mention the Free Speech Union

Now Big Tech is coming for your money

Tory MP Takes on PayPal

Online Safety Bill to be rewritten amid fears Nicola Sturgeon could hijack it

British MP Wants Law to Stop Digital Payment Firms Like PayPal Withdrawing Service Over Political Views

“Offensive” Tom Moore tweet’s author appeals to European court

Man, 36, found guilty of posting “grossly offensive” tweet about Captain Sir Tom Moore saying “burn auld fella buuuuurn” plans to appeal conviction at European Court of Human Rights

Cambridge alumni pulling funding from college after academics said gender speaker was “hateful”

Teachers’ union claims challenging radical gender ideology is “transphobic”

Victorian novel gets trigger warning over “classism” that may upset modern students

Calling students by their names “too upsetting”, says top university

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