New Delhi, (EFE).- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez defended on Wednesday the necessity of imposing rules on social media platforms to counter algorithms that propagate violent, pornographic, or hateful content, criticizing X owner Elon Musk for reacting with «crude» and «threatening» responses.
«Ultimately, insecurity is not generated by a 14-year-old foreign minor in the United States or Spain. Insecurity is precisely provoked by these magnates who believe the world is theirs and, therefore, can do whatever they please,» Sánchez stated from New Delhi, where he was asked during a press conference about Musk’s recent messages on X.
Musk has once again called Sánchez «dirty» and a «traitor to the people of Spain,» and agreed with a user who commented on the extraordinary regularization of immigrants, asserting that the Prime Minister should be arrested.
Sánchez clarified that he hadn’t had time to read the message but was certain it was a reaction to his plans to introduce rules for social media.
He guaranteed his intention to press ahead and build an alliance both within and outside the EU to provide a joint response to a problem affecting the mental health of children and young people.
«If violent, pornographic, or hateful contents are detected, and which are furthermore propagated by algorithms designed with the very purpose of spreading and expanding these hoaxes, this violence, this pornography, this crudeness, someone will have to be held responsible for it, for removing it,» he affirmed.
Sánchez emphasized that this is not censorship and does not stem from an ideology. He also stated he felt supported by the medical and scientific community, as well as by the vast majority of parents and society, «regardless of who they vote for.»
Just as an independent worker or a company is held accountable for regulatory non-compliance in their sector, someone must also assume responsibility on social media, he explained, insisting that these violent or pornographic messages are spread «by a premeditated decision,» due to the design of certain algorithms.
«And no one is going to be responsible for it, and on top of that, they’re going to make a fortune at the expense of people’s health? Well, I think it’s crystal clear,» the head of the Spanish Executive stated, advocating that governments and parliaments must legislate to protect the most vulnerable.
Defending freedom of expression, he continued, does not mean defending the dissemination of a real child’s face and using artificial intelligence to superimpose a naked body onto it: «This must be a crime, and this is what Spain is demanding.»
When asked if the Government and ministers planned to abandon their presence on social media, he ruled it out: «We are going to stay. We have to be on the frontline and defend reason even in these sinister places that the techno-oligarchy has turned our social media into.» EFE
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