This Wednesday, he urged Spaniards to remain “vigilant”, demand transparency and fight for their rights after the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced that Spain is going to ban social networks for minors under 16 years of age and implement several measures to combat hate and punish digital platforms and their managers who do not remove content of this nature.
“These measures can turn Spain into a state monitored under the pretext of protection,” said the Russian-born billionaire in a message he sent to his Spanish users in which he ensures that the Government of Pedro Sánchez is promoting “dangerous regulations that threaten digital freedoms.”
Regarding the possibility that platform managers will have to respond legally for hate content spread on the networks, Dúrov has assured that this point can lead to “excessive censorship.” “Platforms will eliminate anything minimally controversial to avoid risks, silencing political dissent, journalism and everyday opinions. Your voice could be next if it challenges the status quo,” he warned. On charges ranging from laundering crimes to complicity in the dissemination of pedophile images.
On Tuesday, the tycoon and owner of the social network X, Elon Musk, had also reacted against the measures proposed by Sánchez. Musk called the people of Spain a “totalitarian fascist” and a “tyrant and traitor” after the President of the Government announced these five measures against the impunity of social networks and their directors, and to protect minors from their harmful effects.
Musk has cited on his social network a tweet in which Sánchez detailed his proposals and has taken the opportunity to dedicate those insults to him. In addition, he has called him Dirty Sánchez, whose literal translation is “dirty Sánchez”, but which is a nod to a coprophilic sexual practice, which he has crowned with a poop emoji. An hour after that first tweet, Musk has published another message on his social network calling the President of the Government of Spain “a true totalitarian fascist.”
One of these measures affects Musk and Durov personally: “We are going to modify the legislation in Spain so that platform managers are legally responsible for the multiple violations that take place on their platforms.” “This means that the CEOs of these technological platforms will face criminal liability if they do not remove hateful or illegal content,” Sánchez explained.
