Image source: PTI
New Delhi: President of France Emmanuel Macron Harsh criticism of social media companies and their technology executives, accusing them of falsely portraying themselves as defenders of free speech. “Some of them claim to support free speech. We support free algorithms with full transparency,” Macron said, speaking at an artificial intelligence summit in the nation’s capital.
Politico quoted him as saying: “Free speech is pure nonsense if no one knows how you’re being led.”“We know that all algorithms are biased. There’s no doubt about it. When you talk about social media, where their influence is so great that you don’t know how the algorithm was developed, how it was tested and where it’s going to lead you – that can be a huge democratic bias,” he added.In the past ten years, European Union Lawmakers in Brussels have introduced sweeping legislation aimed at limiting the power of major technology platforms. Landmark measures such as the General Data Protection Regulation, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act aim to strengthen privacy protections, curb anti-competitive behavior and impose stricter obligations on content moderation. However, Washington considers some elements of these laws to be incompatible with the U.S. Constitution’s protections for speech.The dispute has since expanded into a broader political conflict, with U.S. officials and several technology companies warning that Europe’s rules verge on censorship. European leaders countered that the regulations were necessary to tackle illegal content, disinformation and platform abuse. The most outspoken among them is Macron, who has repeatedly called for tighter restrictions on social media access for young users – a stance that has gained traction in parts of Europe as public concerns about online harms grow.
