AP – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is launching a crusade against what he sees as the downsides of social media.
The Socialist leader wants the European Union (EU), which already leads the world in Internet regulation, to put additional checks on Elon Musk’s X, trendsetting video app TikTok and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram for having, in his words, put participatory democracy and the mental health of users at risk.
“I believe social media are now a common resource for humanity, like the oceans, and they should be protected and managed accordingly,” Sánchez said.
While attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the prime minister laid out his vision for how the EU might “make social media great again”. Here is what you need to know about his three-point plan:
STEP 1: END USER ANONYMITY
Sánchez said he would propose legislation aimed at ending anonymity for social media users when the EU’s leaders meet in Brussels on March 20-21.
His idea is for each username to be a pseudonym that must be registered under a real identity with European authorities, using a “European digital identity wallet”.
“This way citizens could use nicknames if they want, but in the case of a crime, public authorities would be able to connect those nicknames to real people and hold them responsible,” he said.
Sánchez argued that “no one can send packages without showing an ID or buy a hunting weapon without giving their name, and yet we are allowing people to roam freely on social networks without linking their profiles to a real identity. This paves the way for misinformation, hate speech and cyber harassment because it is facilitating the use of bots and it is allowing people to act without being held accountable for their actions”.
The proposal, however, clashes with longstanding demands of digital rights groups, which say that protection of online anonymity is important to protect freedom of speech and removing it could have a chilling effect. Such groups say anonymity is a cornerstone of online communications and a critical tool to challenge authority and express controversial opinions.
STEP 2: MORE TRANSPARENCY FOR ALGORITHMS
Sánchez will urge European officials to apply the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Services Act to “force open the black box of social media algorithms”. The EU adopted the law in 2023 with the stated goal of keeping internet users safe online.
The Spanish leader said the EU also needs to reinforce the European Centre for Algorithm Transparency so it can “inspect the functioning of social networks without any limitations”.
Tech companies might resist attempts by authorities to peek under their programming hoods, citing a desire to protect their intellectual property. But authorities on both sides of the Atlantic have made moves to investigate algorithms.
EU officials said last week that they ordered X to turn over more information as part of a Digital Services Act investigation into the social media platform, including on the algorithms used by its recommendation system. Meanwhile, Missouri’s attorney-general unveiled plans for new rules on algorithm transparency, including giving internet users a choice of the algorithms their social media platforms use.
STEP 3: HOLD TECH CEOS RESPONSIBLE
The third plank of Sánchez’s plan is for the EU to go right up to the top of the social media companies for any social ills produced by their platforms. Sánchez said he recommends that “social media chief executive officers (be) held personally accountable for non-compliance with laws and norms in their platforms”, describing such accountability as no different than what most business owners have for their products.
Britain has taken a similar step. Under online safety rules, senior managers at tech companies face criminal liability in certain situations, mainly for the relatively minor issue of failing to respond properly to information requests.
WHY IS SÁNCHEZ TAKING AIM AT SOCIAL MEDIA?
Spain has joined governments around the world that are concerned with the impact of social media on children and teenagers. Spain has limited the use of mobile phones in schools, while Sánchez has decried what he calls an epidemic of online explicit content.
At Davos, the prime minister challenged the involvement of social media platform owners like Musk in politics. After helping to bankroll Donald Trump’s candidacy to reclaim the United States presidency, the world’s richest man has ventured into European politics.
