«I propose ending anonymity on social networks. In our countries people cannot go down the street with a mask, drive a car without a license or send a package without presenting an ID or buy a gun without it. AND … “We are allowing people to do what they want on social networks without linking their profiles to a real identity,” Pedro Sánchez pointed out this Wednesday during his participation in the Davos Forum.
It is not exactly a new speech. In February 2018, Angela Merkel pointed out the need to regulate online speech and mentioned that anonymity on social media contributed to the spread of illegal and harmful content. Another prominent center-right European politician, Frenchman Emmanuel Macron criticized anonymity on social networks in January 2019, during the “Great National Debate”, and expressed his desire to move towards a progressive elimination of all forms of online anonymity.
Also in Spain there was a similar proposal, but led by the PP. In 2017, the then spokesperson for the Popular Group, Rafael Hernando, registered in Congress an initiative to stop the commission of attacks or directly crimes that, protected by the “impunity of anonymity”, some users commit on social networks. With arguments very similar to those that Sánchez used this WednesdayHernando recalled that when mobile telephony began to be implemented in Spain, anyone could get a number without having to register, but that later the law changed and it was necessary to provide an ID to have a line. The PSOE did not support the proposal, Mariano Alonso reports.
The Spanish government of Pedro Sánchez did not join them then, which however now champions the same demand, framed in a war against the “techno-millionaires” which it called yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He identified big social media entrepreneurs as enemies who want to “end democracy” and paraphrased Donald Trump, haranguing the free world: “let’s make social media great again.” “It will not be easy,” acknowledged the Spanish president, “The people we are facing are very powerful, they have almost unlimited resources and they are not playing fair,” although he trusted that “I know we can win the battle because we are right” and “there are more of us.”
Sánchez considered in Davos that “we have to act quickly” and “generate a common front that unites all those who believe in democracy”, with a series of measures that he wants to “propose to the leaders of the European Union.” In addition to “ending anonymity on social networks”, because “we are allowing people to do what they want without linking their profiles to a real entity” and for which “a unitary European identity” would be necessaryproposes “forcing social networks to open the black boxes of the algorithms.” “The values of the European Union cannot be sold,” he defended, which in his opinion is happening in many of the large technology platforms.
He referred to “a small group of techno-millionaires who are no longer satisfied with having almost complete economic power, but also want political power” and has asked that “the owners of social networks be held accountable, because they are one of the richest and most powerful people in the world. «The largest fine imposed by the European Commission on a technology company was the same as 0.6% of its profits annual. Or to put it another way, it represents what that company had earned in less than a day,” he criticized the few European measures against large social networks.
Unfortunately, Sánchez did not specify how the owners of the large social networks, companies with the legal freedom to require their clients to identify themselves or not, could be held “accountable.” Already last August, the prosecutor Chamber against Hate and Discrimination Crimes, Miguel Ángel Aguilar, proposed the modification of the Penal Code to prevent social networks from being a platform for promoting hate, with measures such as mandatory identification for its users, although it had to be recognized that absolute anonymity does not exist. Any user leaves a digital footprint identifiable with OSINT tools, that is, with intelligence from open sources, in addition to records of the IP address from which the Internet connection is made, the geolocation, the time of use or when it was used, among other data.
«The Basic Law guarantees everyone the right to express their opinion freely and openly, as long as they do not break the law. However, it does not recognize a fundamental right to anonymity. Certainly, he does not want to protect cowardice. Freedom of expression does not include the right to anonymity,” explains Berlin analyst Hugo Müller-Vogg, “technically it would be very difficult to enforce, but the possibility of circumventing bans cannot be a reason not to impose them. Otherwise, we could do without the entire criminal law. «Mandatory real names are bullshit.” contradicts network expert Martin Fehrensen, because anonymity guarantees freedom of expression on the Internet. In everyday life, no one walks with a name tag and the right to anonymity also applies in demonstrations or citizen meetings.”
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