Spain's leader wants the EU to ‘make social media great again.’ Here's how
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is launching a crusade against what he sees as the downsides of social media. The Socialist leader wants the European Union, which already leads the world in internet regulation, to put additional checks on Elon Musk’s X, trendsetting video app TikTok, and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram for having, in his words, put participatory democracy and the mental health of users at risk.
“I believe social media are now a common resource for humanity, like the oceans, and they should be protected and managed accordingly,” Sánchez said. While attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the prime minister on Wednesday laid out his vision for how the EU might "make social media great again.” Here is what you need to know about his three-point plan:.
Step 1: End user anonymity. Sánchez he would propose legislation aimed at ending anonymity for social media users when the EU's leaders meet in Brussels on March 20-21. His idea is for each username to be a pseudonym that must be registered under a real identity with European authorities, using a “European digital identity wallet.”.
“This way citizens could use nicknames if they want, but in the case of a crime, public authorities would be able to connect those nicknames to real people and hold them responsible,” he said. Sánchez argued that “no one can send packages without showing an I.D. or buy a hunting weapon without giving their name, and yet we are allowing people to roam freely on social networks without linking their profiles to a real identity. This paves the way for misinformation, hate speech and cyber harassment because it is facilitating the use of bots and it is allowing people to act without being held accountable for their actions.”.
