“American colonization is in danger”

As the days go by, it will be the same. Within a month of the suspension of Donald Trump’s account, Twitter suspended the account of Vox, Spain’s far-right party, on Thursday, January 28, 2021. His fault? The release of a hashtag was about the slogan “Stop Islamization” (understand “Stop Islamization”), which was relayed by users of the social network, culminating in the most used keywords of the day.

Enthusiasm began with a news release on January 27, in which the party explains that they are immigrants. ” About 0.2% [de la population ; N.D.L.R.] And 93% suffer from complaints. Most are from Magrep “. A tweet that will be part of Vox’s campaign for the Assembly elections for the Catalan Parliament scheduled for February 14.

States vs Twitter

The suspension of the account prompted Vox leader Santiago Abbas to operate using the same social networking channel: Twitter restricts fundamental rights and usurps the functions of democracies “Introduces the person who announced the complaint against the social network. The message of his suspension is a reminder that the political movement has violated its rules. ” Prohibits hate speech “Like Dijo Wu’s feeling after Donald Trump’s account was deleted two days after the infiltration of some of his supporters on Capitol Hill. An event judged by Angela Merkel.” Complicated “, Assuming it should be taken” Within the limits defined by the legislature, not by the decision of a corporate management In the words of its spokesman Stephen Seibert.

Is Twitter silencing the movements of the populist right or the far right? To see more clearly, Marianne Fabrice, an entrepreneur and social media expert, asked Ebelpoin three questions.

Marianne : How to analyze these attacks from Twitter?

David Ebelpoin : From now on, Twitter will no longer hide, it blows up accounts that do not please him politically. Note that this is not particularly to prevent fake news, but political comments. Since then, the social network has adopted itself as a political actor, with its own rules. The problem is to know how to use this power to regulate freedom of expression. For now, Americans are imposing their views on democracy. At Erdogan’s request, Facebook is pursuing local policies such as censoring Kurdish leaders.

The actions taken by Twitter are primarily about right-wing and far-right movements. Is it effective in combating them?

Not really, usually when you audit people will find other ways. Remember that refugees are in the extreme right-wing web. In the late 1990s, leading nationalism was almost banned from the media. These are people who have invested in the internet, opening blogs, and being on social networks. Today, a young activist at the National Rally will receive activist practices from his parents. They have a maturity in social networks that has nothing to do with their political opponents. On the left, they immediately present themselves as “anti”: they insult, attack those who don’t think like them, but it is a tactic that does not work. That too, the far right understood it well. In addition, it has an indescribable war chest because its rhetoric is based on the lies told by governments. It is obvious that we will see parallel systems emerge. Anyone can create a site or site with their own rules.

What are the risks of social networking taking care of regulating freedom of expression?

To allow that to happen is to move towards the model of liberal democracies. In addition, if we censor a person, it carries the risk of justifying them by sending his comments as “confusing”. This may affect us when Twitter considers French integration to be complex. We are already looking at the spikes in the American media area in our model, which, for a long time, are censorship ideas that support the integration of immigrants, against the grains of their multicultural model. But beyond these cultural gaps, playing in the background is actually American colonization by the Kafams, who are becoming a political actor.

Read more: Suspending Trump’s Twitter account: “Give promises to Kafa Democrats”