Erica Stanford says a VPN ban was never on the table. Barrister and Free Speech Union Council Member Douglas Brown isn't convinced. Douglas joins host Dane Giraud for a freewheeling episode on three stories that end in the same place: someone else deciding what you can see online.
The Post reported the Government had been looking at VPN restrictions as part of its under-16 social media ban. Within hours, ACT and NZ First ruled it out and the Education Minister denied it was ever considered. But the select committee report on online harm mentions VPNs 19 times and recommends them as an area for the regulator to explore.
Douglas explains what a VPN actually is, who relies on them, and why an under-16 ban cannot be enforced without imposing age verification on every New Zealander. Then Citizen Vigilante, the Uwe Boll film starring Armie Hammer that was refused classification in Germany. Elon Musk shared it, it topped the charts, and the Streisand effect did the rest. From Thomas Paine's Rights of Man to Life of Brian to Spycatcher, suppressing a work has always been the surest way to promote it.
Finally, the UK's plan to force social media platforms to give prominence to approved 'trusted news' providers, including the BBC. Who decides what counts as shared and accurate facts?
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