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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2021, @06:15PM (4 children)
Liberals: Climate change is real, we should do something
Yeah, then they vote for democrats who want to tell us how often we can flush our toilets.
Instead of restrictions, the damn liberals should supply alternatives that are actually better!
And if they're really liberal, they'll stop voting for machine politicians from the 70s and 80s that frustrate everybody else into voting for republicans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2021, @07:07PM
Tried doing all those things.
"Instead of restrictions, the damn liberals should supply alternatives that are actually better!"
Conservatives: muh lightbulbs, muh gas guzzlers, muh freedumbs from carbon taxes, damn environmental regulations increasing business costs!
"And if they're really liberal, they'll stop voting for machine politicians from the 70s and 80s that frustrate everybody else into voting for republicans."
So it is everyone's falt but your own?
Jesus christ you whiny dumb fuck, the things that frustrate you are the improvements you just said should be made! Sorry you're a moron?? The single best thing we can do is make college mandatory and free, with a requirement of environmental and social justice courses so you can actually comprehend the problems instead of whining about the solutions.
(Score: 2) by helel on Saturday January 16 2021, @12:49AM (2 children)
Democratic politicians can't just magic the problem away. They can only implement policy designed to address it. To use your analogy, if flushing toilets causes climate change then implementing policy limiting how often you can flush is a solution. It's the thing that will reduce the problem.
There is a way to get better alternatives tho - fund basic research. I'll give you one guess which party supports that one...
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday January 16 2021, @02:16AM (1 child)
"To use your analogy, if flushing toilets causes climate change then implementing policy limiting how often you can flush is a solution. It's the thing that will reduce the problem."
So now my toilet is plugged up all the time. What's the solution to that? Outhouses??
See, this is the problem with that sort of solution.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by helel on Saturday January 16 2021, @02:47AM
No, I don't really see. The toilet thing was just the AC's analogy. In the real world we're talking about things like minimum fuel efficiency standards so the real world equivalent of your clogged toilet is that you don't buy enough gasoline [caranddriver.com]. It's a problem, sure, but one that can be addressed.
Also, if clogging your toilet really is a problem you frequently suffer I recommend you get a poop knife [urbandictionary.com].