US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere

Post by mesk » Fri, Feb 20, 2026, 8:23 AM UTC

Manuel_D wrote: post #430

mesk wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here you can find short sample of those `dangerous` books: https://pen.org/banned-books-list-2025/ And https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/cdc-orders-retracti... And, I know those shadow libraries are banned because of copyright, but that's just an excuse. If someone pushes such a broad understanding of Freedom as US does, than copyright should maybe not be the one exception that's ok. People should have freedom…

Those book "bans" are just librarians' decision on what to use finite shelf space to stock. Students are 100% free to bring any of the "banned" books to school and read them. By this logic, when a librarian changes out an older set of YA novels with a newer set, those older novels are being "banned". So to answer your question: > Cool, so the US students will be able to read school banned books ? The answer is "whene…

Post by shaky-carrousel » Fri, Feb 20, 2026, 8:24 AM UTC

nickorlow wrote: post #119

jadenPete wrote: post #107

Then won’t foreign governments just ban freedom.gov? This problem has already been solved with networks like Tor and I2P. It seems like it would be more strategic to fund those projects instead.

US can probably use their soft power to influence them not to do that. Also would imagine the US gov could also set up some more censorship resistant access methods.

Post by seszett » Fri, Feb 20, 2026, 8:25 AM UTC

carlosjobim wrote: post #249

jadenPete wrote: post #107

Then won’t foreign governments just ban freedom.gov? This problem has already been solved with networks like Tor and I2P. It seems like it would be more strategic to fund those projects instead.

Maybe that's the purpose? Pushing European and global "allies" to show their cards. Some citizens will support more censorship, while some will start questioning. It's good to know where your rivals stand. Also it is cheap, easy, non-controversial domestically in the US, and ethically coherent with American values.

Post by boudin » Fri, Feb 20, 2026, 8:26 AM UTC

Argonaut998 wrote: post #447

pms wrote: post #434

It's a waste of resources, but please do it! The entire "European Union censors" narrative is a hoax [1], so the portal will achieve nothing, but you've got to do what you've got to do! [1] First, the EU countries have much higher World Press Freedom Index than the US. Second, once you start reading how little there is of the alleged "censorship" in the EU, you realize it's a no-brainer aiming to protect people.

Press freedom !== entirety of freedom of speech European politicians are calling every day to censor social media. People are arrested regularly for social media posts. Censorship is absolutely an issue in Europe and it’s only getting worse. I welcome such an attitude as this.

Post by shaky-carrousel » Fri, Feb 20, 2026, 8:27 AM UTC

seszett wrote: post #455

carlosjobim wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe that's the purpose? Pushing European and global "allies" to show their cards. Some citizens will support more censorship, while some will start questioning. It's good to know where your rivals stand. Also it is cheap, easy, non-controversial domestically in the US, and ethically coherent with American values.

> ethically coherent with American values Do you mean that VPN will blur the nipples when you watch pictures of classical paintings through it?