Of course. That is what they've demanded, so that is what they get.
> "When there are people all over the globe participating in the same discussion, you can’t realistically have an odd patchwork of rules. "
On the contrary: You must have this. As a matter of law. There is no alternative, other than withdrawing from those countries entirely and ignoring the issue of people accessing your site anyway (which is what happens in certain extreme situations, states under sanctions, etc)
> " It’s very common for people on this forum, for example, to be commenting on their experiences in Europe, where free speech is heavily curtailed in comparison to the states. How do you manage such threads? "
Here are the options:
1) Do not do business in those countries.
2) Provide different services for those countries to reflect their legal requirements.
There is no way to provide a globally consistent experience because laws are often in mutual conflict (one state will for example prohibit discussion of homosexuality and another state will prohibit discriminating on the basis of sexual preference)