This opinion piece argues that Europe should “shut down recommender algorithms” of the big US social media platforms - Facebook, X, Instagram, etc. - because the author believes that these algorithms are undermining European democracy.
The most obvious example of such an algorithm is on X, where Musk can manipulate the algorithm to boost European far-right parties, like AfD. But the author argues that other social media CEOs, like Zuck, are beholden to Trump’s anti-liberal agenda - for example, Trump “openly threatened to throw Mark Zuckerberg in jail for the rest of his life”. Therefore: “It is reasonable to assume that tech oligarchs will do what [Trump] tells them”, which may include the Trump administration pressuring US social media companies to recommend more right-wing content.
So the author says: “The EU must immediately switch off the tech companies’ algorithms on its soil, at least until they are proven safe for democracy”. Do you agree with that?
I absolutely agree with that. The algorithms are one of the significant promoters of destabilization, propaganda, disorientation, and manipulation, by platforms and by other parties making use of them.
It is essential for the EU to regulate them. Through transparency and requirements, and adequate consequences.
It was one of my points in the EU survey response and content about it here on Lemmy https://feddit.org/post/10253134/5842417