Free speech under assault in Finland

OPINION:

If you were to guess which country is cracking down on a legislator for her religious beliefs, Finland probably would be one of the last countries you would guess. Yet that is exactly what’s happening.

Despite the overturning of one conviction, Finnish courts are upholding one of the charges against former Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen.

The prosecution is part of a broader trend by European countries to clamp down on free speech. To protect free speech, people inside and outside Europe need to fight the censorship regime that is taking over.

Ms. Rasanen is a member of the Finnish parliament. A devout Christian, she was convicted in 2022 of violating hate speech laws because of a tweet and a pamphlet showing her support for traditional marriage. Although the Finnish Supreme Court overturned the conviction for the tweet, it upheld the conviction for the pamphlet.

The trial and conviction of Ms. Rasanen is a chilling crackdown on free speech. A person doesn’t have to agree with her views on marriage to recognize the danger this poses to freedom of expression in Finland. The problem with hate speech laws is that they are completely subjective. If Finns can be penalized for expressing their religious beliefs, then there is no end to what can be penalized as hate speech.

Freedom cannot last in any country where this is business as usual.

Unfortunately, Finland’s lack of protection for free speech is the norm in Europe, not the exception. The European Union as a whole criminalizes hate speech, with member nations varying in what they consider hate speech.

Politicians in Germany brag about punishing people for online comments. In Britain, thousands of people are arrested annually for speech crimes. Europe has come a long way from the classical liberalism of Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill.

Advertisement Advertisement

Europe has some of America’s closest allies, as most NATO members are located there. Yet how can the vanguard of Western democracies have member states persecuting the free speech of its citizens? Censorship is something you expect out of places such as Russia, China and North Korea. Not Britain, Finland and Germany.

President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. ambassadors need to make clear to these countries that the U.S. does not approve of these laws. We are the shining city on a hill, and right now, Europe needs that shine.

Vice President J.D. Vance was right to call out censorship at the Munich Security Conference last year. The Trump administration needs to continue making censorship an issue in dealings with European leaders.

Critics may say that this constitutes American interference in internal European affairs, but it doesn’t. Americans are running afoul of Europe’s censorship laws too.

Social media platform X is locked in a legal battle with European authorities over its refusal to comply with censorship requirements, resulting in a $161 million fine from the European Union. Elon Musk should continue fighting for the free speech of Europeans.

Advertisement Advertisement

Yet free speech can be protected most effectively by Europeans themselves. If the people of Europe want freedom, then they must fight for it at the ballot box and in the courts. To protect free speech, European voters should demand that their elected leaders protect their free speech rights and refuse to support leaders who support censorship.

In the meantime, people such as Ms. Rasanen will continue feeling the brunt of censorship. (In cases like these, organizations such as Alliance Defending Freedom defend people running afoul of censorship laws.)

Thankfully, there are signs that free speech is still alive on the continent. The aforementioned overturning of one of Ms. Rasanen’s convictions is a positive development, despite the conviction for the pamphlet being upheld. The British Home Office announced recently that it would no longer commit police to investigating hate speech. This is a welcome development but one that the British people will need to remain vigilant about protecting. The Home Office could easily reverse itself and start cracking down on speech.

Free speech is in a precarious position in Europe, with the prevalence of hate speech laws doing a lot of the damage. However, freedom-loving Europeans should not lose hope. As long as people around the world are willing to fight for freedom, there is a chance to roll back censorship.

Advertisement Advertisement

Now is the time to plant the seeds in support of freedom. Future generations will thank us for the battles we fight now in defense of freedom.

• Matt Cookson is a supply chain professional in the defense industry. His work has been featured in The Daily Wire, The Daily Signal and RealClearPolitics. Follow him at @MattCookson95.