In 2015, Angela Merkel threw open Germany’s doors, cheered on by a servile media.
A report by the Otto Brenner Stiftung, a foundation funded by the IF Metall trade union, later concluded that the coverage had been so one-sided that it deepened the divide between conservatives and nationalists and those on the other side of the divide. It also increased distrust of the establishment media. A poll commissioned in 2017 found that 55 percent of those asked felt “systematically lied to by the media.” Twenty-nine percent agreed that “the media and politicians work hand in hand to manipulate public opinion.”
Beyond the cheerleading, however, discontent bubbled up online, something that upset Merkel, the leader, we were told at the time, of the “free world.” The result was the passing of Germany’s Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, the first of many, many laws that have emerged to rein in free speech on the internet.
As I noted the other day, Spain’s socialist-led coalition has approved a decree (going through the legislature was going to be tricky) granting amnesty to half a million (or more) illegal immigrants.
Quite a few Spaniards are likely to disapprove of this move.
Nevertheless, it must just be a coincidence that, speaking from Dubai, a well-known haven of democracy, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has just announced plans to crack down, directly or indirectly, on internet free speech.
You can watch Sánchez’s speech (it’s in English) here. Among its highlights, social media executives should be “legally accountable for many infringements taking place on their sites,” a measure clearly designed to encourage them to err on the side of caution. This, Sánchez says, will mean that CEOs of such platforms (who can he be thinking about?) “will face criminal liability” for failing to remove illegal or “hateful” content.
And who will define “hateful?”
Ambiguity is a helpful tool for authoritarian legislators. In 1944 the Franco regime explained that its censorship rules were intended to “ensure both the dissemination of truth and the work of national reconstruction.” Hmmm.
Perhaps Sánchez took a few tips.
Other proposed provisions include banning access to social media for minors under the age of 16 with “real barriers that work.” Prohibiting smartphones from schools makes sense, but a wider social media ban on the lines advocated by Sánchez (and to be fair, not only him; other politicians elsewhere are advocating the same thing) means that the state will be intervening in a matter that ought to be up to parents to decide. And how is age verification compatible with the privacy of adults on the internet? They will presumably have to be “carded” online.
Somehow, I don’t think Sánchez is too worried about that.