Foreign leaders blast Big Tech political censorship in US | Eastern North Carolina Now

Big Tech's political censorship in the US has not gone unnoticed abroad and, in fact, foreign leaders are weighing in that it is a danger to democracy.  The first to blast Big Tech censorship of President Trump was Mexico's leftwing President Obrador who called it an "inquisition" to "manage public opinion". and declared he did not like Facebook or Twitter trying to tell people what political opinions they were allowed to express.

 

"The chancellor sees the complete closing down of the account of an elected president as problematic," said a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  France's Minister of Finance denounced what he called a "digital oligarchy" that he considers "a threat to democracy".

 

Manfred Weber, leader of the largest party group in the European Parliament, said “we cannot leave it to American Big Tech to decide how we can or cannot discuss online,” labeling it a threat to the “consensus building” that is “crucial in free and democratic societies.”

 

“I’m not in favour of censorship – I think if people don’t like what they see on Twitter – well don’t go onto that social media platform,” Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack told reporters.  "Freedom of speech is fundamental to our society …  personally I felt uncomfortable with what they did,” added Australia's Treasurer Josh Frydenburg.

 

Some countries are already preparing to take action against internet censorship.  In the UK, sources close to Prime Minister Boris Johnson have told a leading London newspaper that the Prime Minister is very concerned about the intrusion by Big Tech into the recent US election and is studying legislation to prevent that happening in the UK.

 

Poland's conservative government has already introduced legislation to protect the internet free speech of Polish citizens.  The law would create a special court that could order Big Tech to restore any posts legal under Polish law that are censored by Big Tech, and if Big Tech refuses to comply, the court could fine them a million euros per occurrence.

 

Hungary's conservative government has been conducting an official government investigation of internet censorship by Big Tech even before the latest incidents.  Hungary has also set up its own free speech social media site.