The European Union’s Digital Services Act is designed to protect democracy and combat “hate speech” and “disinformation” online. However, Austrian politician and member of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Petra Steger, has voiced her criticism of the act.
According to Steger, the EU has created an “ideologically motivated censorship tool” to suppress unwanted opinions. She claims that the EU is using vague terms to target and censor opinions it does not like. Steger points out that even the designated US President, Donald Trump, had exposed the same tactic of using the fight against “hate speech” and “disinformation” as a pretext for monitoring the internet.
Steger hopes that Trump will stop the EU’s plans, as critics of the act could use it to restrict freedom of speech. She believes that the freedom of speech is in danger.
The new law threatens companies like Facebook, X, and Google with fines in the billions if they do not adequately combat “hate speech”. Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have expressed concerns over the potential threat to freedom of speech.
Steger is particularly critical of the recent EU investigations against X CEO Musk and AfD leader Alice Weidel following an online conversation. “Everything else would be a partisan motivated persecution and an interference in the German election campaign” she said.
For the investigations, 150 EU officials were deployed, which Steger criticized as a partisan motivated persecution. The EU, on the other hand, accuses Musk of interfering in the German election, while the Bundestag is investigating whether there is an illegal support of the AfD.
The FPÖ demands the immediate stop of such measures and warns of a democratic “floodgate” in Europe.