The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has avoided responding to Brussels' questioning of his proposals on social networks and has shown himself unconcerned, firm, and even comfortable in the face of the attack received from the powerful owners of Equis and Telegram: "They will not break us". "The voice of democracy will not be subdued by the technoligarchs of the algorithm"
This is how he expressed himself during his closing speech at the VIII National Industry Congress organized in Bilbao by the Ministry of Industry. He insisted that social networks have become "an unpunished toxic universe." He showed that he wanted to bring this popular issue into focus in the last week of the campaign for the Aragon elections by bringing it up in a speech theoretically focused on the country's industrialization.
"Some say that regulating is controlling, that doing politics is tyranny, that setting rules limits innovation, but the key questions are rarely asked: Why do we want that innovation? To expand rights or to put those rights at risk? to strengthen democracy or to erode it, to improve people's lives or for a few to make money," he addressed the audience.
He did not explicitly mention the owner of Equis, Elon Musk, who accused him of being a "tyrant," nor the founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, although he indirectly accused the latter of spreading falsehoods against him. "Do we want a society where a technoligarch can intrude as they did yesterday on the phones of millions of citizens to tell them lies? I believe the answer must be a clear no, and they will not break us, because the voice of reason of the social majority and democracy will obviously not be subdued by these technoligarchs of the algorithm."
Sánchez has sparked outrage among the owners of large technology platforms after promoting that they be held criminally responsible, contrary to the European Commission's criteria, for the content on their networks. Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, sent a mass alert to all users of the application in Spain against Sánchez for attacking, in his opinion, freedom of expression. As for the owner of Equis, Elon Musk, he has been called a "tyrant" and a "traitor."
The President did not address the fact that the European Commission does not see fit to hold the owners responsible for what their users express in the network control measures.
On another note, in the section dedicated to industry, the President announced an investment of 40 million euros to help self-employed individuals and small businesses acquire or lease electric and electrified vehicles. Without further details, the support would be for self-employed individuals and small businesses with up to 10 employees, with grants of up to 7,500 euros for the purchase or leasing of electric or electrified vehicles.
He also announced "a major open innovation call led by the Industrial Organization School and the Center for Technological Development and Innovation to "attract the knowledge and research that emerges from our universities, our technological centers, along with the disruptive talent of our startups."