Böll.Global | The dark side of social media networks: Can regulation save our democracy?

Big tech and social media platforms today represent huge concentrations of power that influence politics and society not only in the US, but worldwide. In his farewell speech, former US President Joe Biden warned of the dangers posed by the monopolies of tech billionaires - for freedom, fundamental rights and democracy. Elon Musk, once a pioneer of e-mobility, is said to have donated at least 270 million US dollars to Donald Trump's election campaign. He is now part of the US President's inner circle of advisors and wants to cut authorities that are relevant to the regulation of his companies. Musk not only gave the short message service Twitter the new name “X” after his takeover. He also turned the platform into a repository of right-wing conspiracy theories, which he also spreads himself. Musk, now a mouthpiece for right-wing political actors, interfered in several European elections. And he is not stopping at interventions in the election campaign ahead of the German federal elections either. 

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg is now also taking a dangerous path: While he once had Trump's Facebook account blocked, he recently announced that he would be discontinuing the fact-checking program for Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms and would be following Musk's Platform X in future. He justified this by saying that “too much censorship” had arisen on the platforms due to the monitoring of content. 

The situation is different in the EU: since February 2024, the Digital Services Act has obliged very large digital platforms, search engines and online intermediary services to assess and minimize their structural risks for violence, racism, sexism and youth endangerment. If the companies do not comply with the requirements, they face severe fines or even bans. The tech billionaires want to undermine this regulation as quickly as possible by the new US government exerting massive political pressure on the EU.

We want to discuss the following questions with our panelists:

• How dangerous are social platforms for democracies and European sovereignty?
• How do EU regulations such as the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act work in practice?
• Has the Digital Services Act proved its worth when it comes to regulating the power of social media platforms?
• How realistic is it to build a European-based digital social network?
• How should civil society be involved?
• How can and should civil society and politics respond beyond regulatory mechanisms?

With: 

• Jan Philipp Albrecht, Head of the Heinrich Böll Foundation
• Markus Beckedahl, Co-founder and curatorial director of re:publica and blogger at Digitalpolitik.de.
• Tonusree Basu, Director of Policy and International Programs, Access Now 
• Felix Kartte, Policy entrepreneur, journalist and expert on technology and European policy

Moderation: Layla Al-Zubaidi, Head of International Policy Divisions, Heinrich Böll Foundation

Contact: 
Louisa Reeh
E reeh@boell.de

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