MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on safeguarding free democratic debate on social media
18.1.2021
Tom Vandendriessche, Susanna Ceccardi, Elena Lizzi, Marco Campomenosi, Francesca Donato, Filip De Man, Markus Buchheit, Roman Haider, Nicolaus Fest, Virginie Joron, Annika Bruna, Jaak Madison, Gilles Lebreton, Gerolf Annemans
B9‑0099/2021
Motion for a European Parliament resolution on safeguarding free democratic debate on social media
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Rule 143 of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas social media giants are increasingly deleting messages in an arbitrary manner and are blocking accounts; whereas by removing the Facebook and Twitter accounts of a sitting US president, they have demonstrated their immense power over public debate;
B. whereas new entrants are also being prevented from entering the market by being denied the use of servers and app stores; whereas, for example, the ‘Parler’ app is banned from Google’s app store and Amazon’s servers;
C. whereas democracy requires freedom of the press, which is opposed by Twitter by, for example, limiting Libero Quotidiano;
D. whereas the absence of an open platform prevents free democratic debate, possibly inducing radicalisation and violence;
1. Condemns the use of violence at recent events in the USA and following the tech giants’ abuse of their monopoly;
2. Reminds the tech giants of their democratic responsibility to provide an open platform;
3. Calls on the Commission to impose fines on, and to break up Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon because of their market-disrupting monopoly position.