Controversial YouTuber Markus “Count Dankula” Meechan was recently found guilty of a hate crime for a 2016 video that featured his girlfriend’s pug making various Nazi Salutes.

The ruling, handed down by a UK court, found that Count Dankula had violated the Communications Act of 2003. While the UK does have laws protecting freedom of speech, the court, and Sheriff Derek O’Carroll specifically, claims that the video was “grossly offensive.”

Freedom of speech in Europe is much more closely regulated than it is in the United States. It is, for example, illegal to perform the Nazi salute in Germany, a lesson that many tourists have learned the hard way. Dankula did apologize for his actions shortly after the swift backlash in 2016, but that didn’t help his case. 

The big question to arise from this is, where does freedom of speech end and hate speech begin on the internet? YouTube has a long and arduous history of banning accounts for using hate speech, as does Twitch, but where do jokes and slurs end and criminal acts begin?

If this had occurred in America, there likely would have never even been a case. American laws are much more lenient when  it comes to freedom of speech. That being said, YouTube and Twitch are international platforms and their reach expands to much more than just the United States or North America. The responsibility of these platforms to censor their own creatives is a hotly debated topic across the internet. Even just the word censor has developed a highly negative connotation in many circles. 

While Dankula’s content was likely meant to be lighthearted, it wasn’t taken that way by all. His words and actions were indisputably anti-semetic, whether they were sincere or not, and that lands them in violation of most site’s terms of use. It was well within YouTube’s rights to suspend his channel and delete his account, but the right of the law to punish him further is what has many up in arms. 

The most recognizable voice to come out in support of Dankula is comedian Ricky Gervais.  

A man has been convicted in a UK court of making a joke that was deemed “grossly offensive”. If you don’t believe in a person’s right to say things that you might find “grossly offensive”, then you don’t believe in Freedom of Speech.

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) March 20, 2018

Gervais’ Tweet, which is filled with offensive and hateful responses itself, paints the other side of the coin. It proves just how divided and undecided people are on the issue. Too many people appear to be perfectly okay with hate speech as long as it’s done under the pretense of free speech and too many people seem to want to censor everything that could be misconstrued as insensitive.

Count Dankula’s case is a foreboding sign for the future of online videos and streaming. Clearly YouTube and Twitch have a responsibility to what users see o their platforms, but how far should they go with that responsibility? Do they shoulder a global responsibility?