Yet, the far-right effort may stymie a push to rein in Big Tech platforms that’s failed so far to live up to its promise. Vandendriessche said this agenda “is completely outdated in a changing world” as “the U.S. is going in the opposite direction.”
“Free speech seems to have become a threat for state censors,” posted Christine Anderson, German European lawmaker for the far-right Alternative for Germany (part of the Europe of Sovereign Nations group) on social media platform X. She was responding to a POLITICO article that laid out how Brussels would watch the live-streamed chat of X CEO Elon Musk with AfD leader Alice Weidel.
Weidel herself posted that the “DSA threatens democracy,” also in response to the same article.
Belgian lawmaker Assita Kanko, of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), welcomed Meta’s content moderation overhaul even as colleagues on the other end of the political spectrum blasted it.
Meta’s decision was a “decisive break from top-down censorship,” she said. She advised the Commission to look carefully at the changes and “update existing legislation.”
The Patriots, ECR, and ESN jointly have 187 seats (out of 720) in the European Parliament.
Some non-attached members, such as Cypriot lawmaker and YouTube star Fidias Panayiotou, could join them in criticizing the EU social media rules. Panayiotou has emerged as Elon Musk’s man in the assembly, often taking positions that echo or match Musk’s own views.
