Jerome Riviere, president of the Identity and Democracy group, the bloc of national populist and national conservative parties in the European Parliament, condemned big tech censorship in a speech at the EU legislature this week.
The Identity and Democracy groups includes Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from a number of mainstream national populist parties in European countries.
The parties include Matteo Salvini’s Lega party in Italy, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France, Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, and Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Germany.
National conservative parties from Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, and the Czech Republic are also represented.
In his speech, Riviere, a French MEP representing the National Rally party, condemned the recently inaugurated President Biden for his lackluster response to political violence and insurrection from the far left during summer, and said the rise of tech censorship against President Trump and his movement represented a concern for all democracies.
“The other overwhelming spectacle that should worry us is the exclusion by almost all social networks of a democratically elected and still serving president.”
“This represents an unprecedented historical aggression against this essential democratic principle: respect for freedom of expression.”
“Social networks have disconnected Donald Trump, arrogating to themselves the exorbitant right to create new rules. They believe conditions of use of their service take precedence over the constitution of sovereign states.
Riviere is the latest major political voice to join a worldwide backlash against the political power of big tech companies; a backlash that begun after Donald Trump – then still the president – was permanently suspended from most major social media platforms.
As Breitbart News previously reported:
The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is mounting a campaign against Big Tech’s political interference as global backlash against Silicon Valley over the censorship of President Donald Trump intensifies.
The chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, as well as ministers in the governments of France and Australia have also condemned Silicon Valley for censoring President Trump.
They join the governments of Poland and Hungary, both of which had made tech censorship a priority even before Trump’s bans.
Poland is set to introduce a law that would fine Silicon Valley companies millions of euros for censoring speech that is legal in the country.
The law would also create a Court for the Protection of Freedom of Speech where Polish citizens would be able to seek redress against censorious tech companies.
Manfred Weber, leader of the largest party bloc in the European Parliament, has also condemned big tech censorship.
“We cannot leave it to American Big Tech to decide how we can or cannot discuss online,” said Weber. “We need a stricter regulatory approach.”
While the backlash against tech censorship is ongoing, the neoliberal president of the European Commission, the most powerful body in the EU, has welcomed the inauguration of President Biden.
“After four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House,” said the commission president, German neoliberal Ursula von der Leyen.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. His new book, #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election, which contains exclusive interviews with sources inside Google, Facebook, and other tech companies, is currently available for purchase.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.