Henna Virkkunen (NCP), the European commissioner for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, spoke to reporters prior to a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, 27 January 2025. Virkkunen has been urged to take more decisive action to tackle election interference and manipulative algorithms on social media platforms from left-leaning members of the European Parliament. (Nicolas Tutat – AFP / Lehtikuva)
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LEFTIST POLITICAL PARTIES in the European Parliament have criticised Henna Virkkunen (NCP), the European commissioner for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, for not doing enough to tackle election interference on social media platforms, reports Helsingin Sanomat.
Members of European Parliament discussed the issue last week in response to the recent activities of Elon Musk, the owner of X.
Musk, who is the most followed person on the micro-messaging platform formerly known as Twitter, has levelled heavy criticism and made false accusations against ruling lawmakers in, for example, Germany and the UK.
He has also sought to leverage his profile to canvass support for the far-right populists Alternative for Germany (AFD).
On 9 January, he used his account to host a chat with Alice Weidel, the chairperson of AFD, doing nothing to challenge her false, revisionist view that Adolf Hitler was a socialist. On 25 January, Musk appeared at the far-right party’s campaign launch, encouraging Germany to move “beyond Nazi guilt”.
Election interference and manipulative algorithms on social media platforms are a direct threat to democracy in Europe, Iratxe Garciá Pérez of Spain, the leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, warned during a plenary session in the European Parliament on Tuesday, 21 January.
“The commission’s silence in the face of this threat is unacceptable,” she stated.
Alexandra Geese of Germany, who represents the Greens, demanded that the commission both open an urgent investigation into how the algorithms of major social media platforms spread disinformation and take immediate action to safeguard elections across the 27-country bloc. She also suggested that the recommendation algorithms of social media platforms should be disabled to enable users to choose the kind of content they wish to see.
“There’s no other option than to shut down platforms that don’t follow the law,” she said according to Helsingin Sanomat.
Far and hard-right parties, by contrast, have been reluctant to regulate the operations of social media platforms, arguing that such actions pose a threat to freedom of expression. They have also accused leftist lawmakers of seeking to censor discussion.
One such lawmaker is Sebastian Tynkkynen of the Finns Party. Helsingin Sanomat on Sunday reported that Tynkkynen has supported Musk in the face of what he believes are attempt to silence him by abusing the Digital Services Act, a piece of regulation designed to address disinformation, illegal content and transparent advertising.
“There’s no reason to suspect algorithmic manipulation. Because a person has loads of followers and they have visibility because of it, should we define a limit [for popularity] after which you can no longer express your views or support a specific party?” he said to the newspaper.
Tynkkynen described Musk as a visionary whose fundamental values include protecting freedom of speech and opposing “wrong kind” of immigration.
“Musk is an extremely visionary guy, and he has some kind of motivation that’s more important than money. It’s saving the world,” he analysed.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
