In an interesting twist on the Big Tech censorship story, world leaders came out heavily against the decisions by Facebook and Twitter to essentially eliminate President Donald J. Trump from their platforms.
“Problematic.” “Elementary significance.”
That’s how Steffen Siebert, spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel described Twitter’s ban on Trump.
“This fundamental right can be intervened in, but according to the law and within the framework defined by legislators—not according to a decision by the management of social media platforms,” Siebert said. “Seen from this angle, the chancellor considers it problematic that the accounts of the U.S. president have now been permanently blocked.”
Norway’s left-wing Labor Party leader noted the censorship threatens political freedom.
“If Twitter starts with this sort of thing, it means that they have to go around the world and look at other people completely astray, and shut them out,” Jonas Gahr Støre said.
The junior minister for European Union affairs, Clement Beaune, said he was “shocked.” Beaune called for public regulation of big online platforms.
France’s finance minister criticized the move.
The leader of the European People’s Party (considered a center-right party) called for a stricter regulatory approach.
“We cannot leave it to American Big Tech to decide how we can or cannot discuss online,” Weber wrote. Today’s mechanisms destroy the compromise searching and consensus-building that are crucial in free and democratic societies.”
Australia’s Acting Prime Minister spoke out against the action.
Mexican President Manuel López Obrador said he doesn’t like anybody being censored. Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny said the ban is an unacceptable form of censorship.
Leaders in Poland are working to curb the power of the social media giants due to the ban.
A son of Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro changed his Twitter profile photo to a picture of President Trump.
Considering how unpopular President Trump is on the world stage — according to Democrats — they must really hate what Facebook and Twitter did in this situation.
