Sánchez announces in Davos his three proposals to the EU to curb social media magnates

Eduardo González The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, denounced this Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos the growing influence of the owners of social networks, who “are no longer satisfied with having economic power, but also want to have political power by undermining our democracies”, and announced the proposals that he will present at the next European Council to force these businessmen to be accountable and to end anonymity on the platforms. “The owners of social networks are no longer satisfied with having almost all economic power, but they also want to have political power by undermining our democratic institutions, and they do not even hide it,” said Sánchez during his speech at the Forum, in the Congress Hall of Davos (Switzerland), in obvious allusion, among others, to the multimillionaire Elon Musk, owner of the social network X and “right-hand man” of the new US president, Donald Trump. The president was accompanied at the event by the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, and the minister for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, Óscar López. According to Sánchez, social networks are contributing to polarizing the public debate with messages and short videos that “make us replace rigor and complexity” and are “driving disinformation” with “altered images and fake news.” “They think that because they are rich they are above the law and can do whatever they want” and, for that reason, “the technology millionaires want to end democracy,” continued Sánchez. “A small group of men, only men, triples the EU budget,” added the head of the Executive, who thus took up the words spoken a few days ago during the closing of the event ‘HispanIA: how artificial intelligence will improve our future’, in which he charged against the misuse of technologies and social networks by the “Silicon Valley techno-caste” and warned that “Europe must stand up to this threat and defend democracy.” For that reason, the head of the Executive warned on Wednesday of the need to take measures. “Today I would like to advance three measures that I will propose to all European leaders at the next formal meeting of the Council, which will take place in Brussels,” he announced. “First of all, I want to propose that anonymity on social networks be ended. For each social network user, a real identity document. “This is the only way to truly ensure that minors do not access inappropriate content, that people who commit crimes are banned from social media or prosecuted, and that the millions of fake profiles that exist and influence public conversation are removed,” he explained. “My second proposal is to force the black box of social media algorithms to be opened, once and for all,” because “the values of the European Union are not for sale,” he said. “Safeguards such as content moderation and fact-checking are legal and moral requirements that everyone must comply with,” he warned. “My third and final proposal is that we make sure that social media executives are held personally accountable for failure to comply with laws and regulations on their platforms, just as they are in other sectors,” Sánchez continued. “For example, the owner of a small restaurant is responsible if his food poisons his customers. Social media moguls must be held accountable if their algorithms poison our society,” he explained. “In short, what I propose is that we take up the fight, that we face this threat head on, because our ability to do so will likely depend on the health, safety and freedom of our children and future generations,” he said. “Let’s take back control, return digital platforms to their original purpose and transform them into safe and fair spaces for conversation, and stop those who want to turn them into a weapon to dismantle our democracies,” he added. “I know it will not be easy (…) because the people we are facing are extremely powerful, they have almost unlimited financial and technological resources, very dangerous allies and they are not playing fair because they do not follow our moral rules and live in a world where there are no consequences, but I know that we can win the battle because we are right, because we are more and because we have already done it in the past,” he concluded. Meetings with Zelenskyy, businessmen and the WTO Apart from this intervention, Pedro Sánchez held a meeting with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “I have met with the president of Ukraine in Davos,” he declared through social networks. “We have talked about the progress of the process of Ukraine's accession to the EU and I have reiterated Spain's support in the face of Russian aggression. Our principles are clear: there can be no agreement on Ukraine without Ukraine and there can be no agreement on European security without Europe,” he added. Likewise, Sánchez met with senior business executives, such as the CEO of Mubadala, Khaldoon Al Mubarak; Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen; ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal and ArcelorMittal CEO Aditya Mittal (with whom he spoke about the future of the company's plants in Spain); Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume; and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. The president also met with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to whom he conveyed Spain's support for the "rules-based multilateral trading system" and with whom he discussed "the important challenges facing global trade in an increasingly complex geopolitical context." Support for the WHO after Trump's departure On the other hand, the President of the Government intervened in the colloquium on global health 'Health and Prosperity through Prevention', in which he highlighted Spain's support for "multilateral, effective, democratic and representative governance with the World Health Organization (WHO) at its centre" and welcomed Spain's return to the Executive Committee of this organisation (through the Minister of Health, Mónica García) "after twenty years", with the aim of "promoting health as a global policy". Sánchez's words come after Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the WHO due to "poor management" of the pandemic and to avoid the "unfair and burdensome payments" that this organisation is demanding from Washington. The United States was one of the founding members of the agency in 1948. The programme was completed with the already traditional informal meeting with the representatives of the large Spanish companies present in Davos, as well as the Spanish CEOs of other international companies. During the meeting, the current state of the Spanish economy, the complex current geopolitical moment and the need to improve the competitiveness of the EU and to advance in the common capital market in this new scenario were addressed.

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