German Chancellor Angela Merkel Questions Twitter Over Trump Ban

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Questions Twitter Over Trump Ban

CREDIT: @CheshireKatrin / Twitter

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel questions Twitter over the ban of Donald Trump from the social media platform, calling it “problematic”.

Merkel sees Twitter’s decision to oust US President Donald Trump as a threat to the freedom of expression, according to Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert.
Speaking on behalf of the Chancellor, Seibert said: “The fundamental right to freedom of expression and opinion is of fundamental importance, and it can be curtailed, but through laws and the framework determined by legislators – not by managers on social media platforms.”
The spokesperson says that incitement to rebellion is deeply problematic, but to prevent a person from expressing himself is to go one step too far.
Similar to Merkel, other politicians also expressed their concern at Twitter’s move with France’s Minister of Economic Affairs Bruno Le Maire demanding that such decisions no longer be left to private companies.
He was “shocked” that Twitter could have made this decision, Le Maire told France Inter. From his point of view, the regulation of the Internet industry could “not be carried out by the digital oligarchy itself.” It is the task of the states and the judiciary.
Le Maire went so far as to call social media platforms “one of democracy’s biggest threats,” reports the American news agency Bloomberg.
The chairman of the conservative EPP group in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber (CSU), called for more supervision over the online networks: “We cannot leave it to the American big-tech companies to decide how we discuss and not discuss,” he told the news website “Politico.”
“We need a stricter regulatory approach,” he concluded.


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Written by

Matthew Roscoe

Originally from the UK, Matthew is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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