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'No longer acceptable' for platforms to take key decisions alone, EU Commission says
It is "no longer acceptable" for social media giants to take key decisions on online content removals alone, following the high profile takedowns of US President Trump's accounts on Facebook and Twitter, the European Commission has said.
Trump's accounts have been suspended by the two platforms for inciting calls to violence ahead of the violent riots that hit Washington's Capitol Hill last week.
Speaking to lawmakers on Monday (11 January), Prabhat Agarwal, an official who heads up the eCommerce unit at the European Commission's DG Connect, noted how the EU executive's Digital Services Act attempts to realign the balance between effective content removal and preserving freedom of expression online.
"It is no longer acceptable in our view that platforms take some key decisions by themselves alone without any supervision, without any accountability, and without any sort of dialogue or transparency for the kind of decisions that they're taking," Agarwal said.
"Freedom of expression is really a key value in this," he told the European Parliament's internal market committee.
The comments came following concerns raised by some lawmakers in the European Parliament following the suspension of Trump's social media accounts. In doing so, platforms giants had demonstrated that they yield a disproportionate degree of power over the freedom of speech online.
"The fact that platforms like Twitter and Facebook decide who can speak freely is dangerous," Green MEP Kim van Sparrentak said.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Friday January 15 2021, @05:42PM (3 children)
The statistically "off" things you refer to are a mixture of lies, irrelevancies, and utter lack of understanding of stats - usually a combination of all three. In particular that Shiva dude, he's a complete idiot, and all of his analyses are pure garbage.
The people who feel they they have no say are just whiny little shits that don't understand the paradox of democracy. Only one side wins. Get over it.
And they, by interrupting the functioning of your terribley broken democracy, are the ones who are bringing on the totalitarianism.
It would be hard for you to be more wrong in just one paragraph even if you'd *tried*. Start your next post with "up is down. black is white. odd numbers are even. hot is cold. I've got something intelligent to say." to make sure you get off to a better start on that front.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2021, @12:35AM (2 children)
Shiva, you say?
The Dance is over.
Statistical Geniuses over here. My Gawd are they stupid! [americanlibertyreport.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 17 2021, @03:58AM
That one has to be trolling. The lack of knowledge about how election statistics work or Virginia's historical voting record makes that sad. I almost think that had to be on purpose. The last paragraph, however, makes it hilarious in hindsight.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday January 17 2021, @10:03AM
Classic Trumpaloon behaviour, concentrated Dunning-Kruger.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves