Hungarian minister Varga slams tech giants for ‘switching off’ certain users
Judit Varga, the justice minister, has criticised global tech giants for “switching off” certain users.
“We can all be turned off,” she said in an English-language post on Facebook on Wednesday.
“So far, only freedom of opinion and speech has been restricted by global tech companies, but the ideological campaign seen in America proves that people can even be turned off from the online space. From where they live their daily lives, they manage their work and businesses, store their memories and keep in touch with their friends, acquaintances, loved ones,” Varga said.
She said it “may come as a surprise” that several European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European People’s Party group leader Manfred Weber, had “raised their voices” against the move by various tech companies that she insisted were allied to “a globalist liberal ideology”.
Those leaders “have probably figured out that all of this can even happen to them and even they can be deleted if they don’t behave as expected,” Varga said.
The justice minister said it was worth considering whether “to base our lives on social media”. Meanwhile, work to create the framework for online legal certainty and transparency was continuing, she said.
“Let’s tell our children, friends, loved ones that we need to live our real lives and even rebuild them instead of the virtual ones. Because in our real life, we can always make our own decisions,”
Varga said.
As we wrote on Monday, the state secretary Zoltán Kovács said that Twitter had in an “arbitrary move” blocked 200 of his followers “overnight” without any explanation or notification in advance, read more HERE.
Read alsoHere is the new Hungarian Facebook?!
Source: MTI
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2 Comments
People do not have a god given right to use the free services that are available on privately owned online social media platforms. From whence has this sense of entitlement sprung? There is no contract in law between the platform and the user, the latter has permission to use the platform if they abide by the terms as decided by the host. The host can change those terms at any time – it is within their remit to do so. Just as if you allow someone to enter your home, you are entitled to ask them to leave if you wish, without explanation. As for freedom of speech, Twitter cane into existence in 2006, Facebook in 2004: is Varga seriously suggesting that there was no freedom of speech or the means to express ones views before the creation of these platforms? Twitter shut down Trump and a number of his more rabid supporters because they were inciting and promulgating violence which put both Democrat AND Republican members of the house at risk. Finally it is nonsense that the media is liberal controlled – popular news channels and outlets in the US are right wing (Fox, Newsmax, OANN, New York Post etc etc). Likewise the popular news outlets in the UK are mainly right wing (The Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun etc). Varga is expressing an opinion (ironically on Facebook of all things) and trying to present it as fact. There are more holes in her argument than there are in a sieve.
How amusing that the ministers of the kingdom of Orbananas, members of a government that controls 90 % of Hungarian media and has 100 % tight grip on Hungary’s State Radio&Tv ( which technically, as state media of all taxpayers, should be super partes and represent everyone equally ) are suddenly so concerned about freedom of expression on private platforms. Where was Varga when, no more than five years ago, Fidesz thugs, a.k.a. ” private police ” ( better say: fascist squads ) were guarding state tv building banning non Fidesz people from having access to it?
And if she is, as it seems, ” justice minister” Varga should know that inciting people to insurrection is a crime. Or, perhaps, this is all part of Fidesz plan to prepare their own attack on Parliament should they lose next elections? For that appears to be Fidesz agenda : give Trump’s attempt of coup d’etat legitimation so that anything similar happening in Hungary in the future will be smuggled as perfectly normal.