Report from Digital Watch
In Brief – In a speech at Madrid’s Complutense University on his recent state visit to Spain, French President Emmanuel Macron criticized the American conception of free speech, calling it “the opposite of free speech.” He argued that online posts should be treated like press articles, with users and social media platform both held legally responsible for published content and advocated for “trusted third parties and fact-checking structures” to restore truth to online debates. Macron says free speech should have limits based on respect for others’ freedom and a shared framework of rules. During the discussion, he also criticized the European Commission’s enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA), arguing that implementation has been too slow. Macron, who has made online regulation a personal priority in recent years, also supports linking social media accounts to identifiable individuals and introducing age-verification requirements to prevent teenagers from accessing social media platforms. Separately, Macron said his government would prepare new legislation to protect teens online after a national law restricting social media access below age 15 was rejected by the country’s constitutional court.
Context – Macron is not shy about stepping into the fray about regulating how social media platforms carry content dealing with political and social issues. He describes the free-speech defense of US social media platforms as “pure bullshit” and has called on EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to aggressively enforce the DSA to counter alleged foreign election interference, including regulating algorithms, removing fake accounts, and revealing sources of political advertising. Many conservative populists in the US, starting with President Trump, have built alliances in Europe and see the EU dominated by an ecosystem of progressive think tanks, advocacy groups, academics, researchers, foundations, media outlets, and government agencies. US Undersecretary of State Sarah Rogers has said the DSA is intended to “extort and extract from American businesses” and “suppress speech flagged by left-wing NGOs”.