It is not only the extreme right that sees magnate Elon Musk as a champion of fundamental rights, as demonstrated by the groups of the European Vox family when presenting their candidacy for the Sakharov Prize for freedom of conscience awarded by the European Parliament annually and which was finally taken by Venezuelan opponents Edmundo González and María Corina Machado. The traditional right also has fans. The MEP of the European People’s Party Branko Grims wants to promote that name for the Nobel Peace Prize and has started a collection of signatures among his colleagues in the European Chamber.
The Slovenian parliamentarian argues his defense in the freedom of expression that, in his opinion, Musk advocates as owner of the social network X (formerly Twitter). “You have eliminated all systemic options to introduce any type of political censorship,” he says in the letter he sent to parliamentarians and to which elDiario.es has had access. “He systematically rejected all pressures on public authorities or anyone else to interfere with the freedom of expression of different opinions and the dissemination of ideas and beliefs, regardless of national borders.” […]. The positive impact of these decisions and actions is extraordinary and global. The best proof of this is the fact that other Internet platforms, particularly after the election of Mr. Donald Trump as president of the United States, have clearly followed suit,” he adds about Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to eliminate fact checkers. data on Facebook and Instagram in line with the model imposed by Musk in X.
Precisely the European Commission chaired by the conservative Ursula von der Leyen has several open procedures against X for non-compliance with the EU digital rules, which were approved with the vote in favor of the European People’s Party. Now Brussels will have to analyze whether the system that Zuckerberg chooses complies with the obligation to reduce systemic risks in terms of disinformation by eliminating verifiers.
Since Trump’s victory, Musk and now Zuckerberg have intensified the battle of the large platforms against EU rules, which they have come to accuse of “censorship.” An accusation that is refuted by the members of the European Commission and especially by the executive vice president for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, who is responsible for the implementation of European digital laws, and who belongs to the family of the PPE. Virkunnen once again rejected this Wednesday that the regulations impose censorship.
Beyond the open procedures, which also have to do with non-compliance with obligations in the fight against disinformation, Musk has become the driving force of a “reactionary international,” as French President Emmanuel Macron described it. The tycoon has become involved in European politics, especially after Trump won the elections, and has shown his full support for the Alternative for Germany ultras before the elections on February 23, in addition to launching a campaign against the prime minister. British Labor Party, Keir Starmer.
Some governments have accused Musk, who is an adviser to the president-elect, of foreign interference. And so has the CDU candidate, Friedrich Merz, after the South African said that “only Alternative for Germany can save Germany.” “I do not remember, in the history of Western democracies, that there has been a comparable case of interference in the electoral campaign of a friendly country,” the candidate from the EPP family.
#Slovenian #MEP #promotes #Elon #Musk #Nobel #Peace #Prize #full #challenge
