by Peter Caddle
An EU push for social media censorship is really aimed at restoring the monopoly on power the government and media used to enjoy, an MEP has claimed.
Tom Vandendriessche, an EU parliamentarian for the Flemish Vlaams Belang party, has alleged that the union’s continued push for social media censorship is an attempt to restore the near-absolute control the government and legacy media used to hold over public discourse.
The populist MEP made the comments in relation to a report on so-called “foreign interference” voted on by the European Parliament on Thursday.
In a press release published by the transnational body, the report is billed as discussing ways to better increase EU resistance to the malicious activities of hostile nations, such as Russia and China.
However, the release does not mention the report’s extensive attacks on free discourse on social media platforms, with the document going so far as to attack social media platforms for allowing people to criticise rhetoric on climate change.
It goes on to demand that EU and state-government bodies draw up plans to “counter disinformation” online, and urges the European Commission to create a so-called “code of good practice” to control the speech of both public officials and bodies.