Social media giants are danger to democracy and must be reined in, warns Brussels boss

21st January 2021

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SOCIAL media giants are a danger to democracy and must be reined in, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says.

Sites such as Facebook and Twitter had let rampant conspiracy theories spread like wildfire, she claimed.

Ursula von der Leyen says social media giants are a ‘danger to democracy’

It had fuelled the storming of the US Capitol building that shocked the world, she told MEPs.

Mrs von der Leyen said: “We should take these images from the USA as a sobering warning. We are not immune to similar events.

“We too see this hate and contempt for our democracy spreading
unfiltered through social media to millions of people.”

And she vowed: “We must make sure that messages of hate and fake news can no longer be spread unchecked.

The EU chief claims sites such as Facebook and Twitter fuelled the storming of the US Capitol building

“We want it laid down clearly that internet companies take responsibility for the content they disseminate.”

Politicians, not tech bosses, should decide who to ban from platforms, she added.

Mrs von der Leyen expressed hopes the EU’s social media crackdown
would act as an “example” to the rest of the world.

Mrs von der Leyen says politicians should decide who to ban from platforms

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