The social network Twitter suspended the account of Vox, Spain's far-right party, because it called for "to stop Islamization", a few weeks after the censorship of Trump. How far will the social network go? Some answers with Fabrice Epelboin, specialist in social networks.
The days go by and look alike. Less than a month after the suspension of Donald Trump's account, Twitter suspended that of Vox, a Spanish far-right party, on Thursday, January 28, 2021. His fault? The launch of a hashtag, that is to say of a slogan "StopIslamizacion" (understand "stop Islamization") which, by dint of being relayed by users of the social network, ended among the most used keywords that day.
The excitement started with a message posted on January 27 in which the party explained that immigrants “ represent around 0.2% [of the population; Editor's note] and are concerned by 93% of complaints. Most are from the Maghreb ”. A tweet that is part of Vox's campaign for the legislative elections for the Catalan parliament scheduled for February 14.
TWITTER VS. STATES
The suspension of the account pushed Santiago Abascal, president of Vox, to react by using the way of this same social network: " Twitter usurps the functions of the democratic States, limiting the fundamental rights " launches the one who announced the filing of a complaint against the social network. In his message of suspension, the latter is content to recall that the political movement has violated its rules " prohibiting speech inciting hatred ". Like a feeling of déjà vu after the deletion of Donald Trump's account two days after the intrusion of some of his supporters on Capitol Hill. An event that Angela Merkel had deemed " problematic ", believing that it should be taken " according to the limits defined by the legislator, and not by the decision of a company management In the words of its spokesperson Steffen Seibert.
Will Twitter silence the movements of the populist right or the far right? To see more clearly, Marianne asked three questions to Fabrice Epelboin, entrepreneur and specialist in social networks.
Marianne : How to analyze these offensives on the part of Twitter?
Fabrice Epelboin : From now on, Twitter is no longer hiding, it blows up accounts which it does not like politically. Note that it does not specifically block fake news, but political opinions. From then on, the social network assumes itself as a political actor in its own right, with its own rules. The problem is to know how this power to regulate freedom of expression can be applied. For the moment, Americans are imposing their vision of democracy. For its part, Facebook is trying more to adapt to local policies, such as when it censors Kurdish leaders at the request of Erdogan.
The measures taken by Twitter primarily concern right-wing and far-right movements. Is it effective in combating them?
Not really, usually when you censor people find other ways. Remember that the extreme right are refugees on the Net. By the end of the 1990s, the Front National was virtually banned from the media. They are the first to have invested in the internet, to open blogs, to be present on social networks. Today, a young activist of the National Rally will inherit activist practices from his parents. They have a maturity on social networks that has nothing to do with their political opponents. On the left, they readily present themselves as “anti”: they insult, they attack those who do not think like them, but it is a strategy that does not work. And that, the extreme right understood it well. Moreover, it has an inexhaustible war chest because its rhetoric is based on lies told by governments. It is obvious that we will see parallel systems emerge. Anyone can create a site or platform with their own rules.
What are the risks of letting social networks take care of the regulation of freedom of expression?
To let it happen is to slide towards the model of illiberal democracies. In addition, if we censor a person, it risks legitimizing his remarks by passing them off as "disturbing". But where this is likely to affect us is when Twitter considers that French integration is problematic. We are already seeing spikes on the part of the American media on our model, they could very well, in the long term, censor remarks advocating the integration of immigrants, against the grain of their multicultural model. But beyond these cultural gaps, what is playing out in the background is indeed the American colonization by the GAFAMs, which are becoming a political actor in their own right.