POINT OF VIEW: President Trump is subject to a form of “impeachment” from the bosses of Twitter and Facebook and BFM TV seems quite pleased with this announcement. Who will be surprised?
This morning news gives us the opportunity to express a point of view on the drift that this implies within American society first and those of the so-called “free” world more broadly.
Beyond the relevance of Trump’s messages, which can be debated according to his membership in a particular clan, the closure of the President’s FB and Twitter accounts highlights the exorbitant power that the leaders of these GAFAMs arrogate to themselves outside of any control and that goes far beyond the Trump case, now anecdotal.
Should it be remembered that GAFAMs are only commercial enterprises whose aim should be limited to providing a technical service?
They have neither the competence nor the legal authority, let alone moral, to judge the advisability of closing the account of any individual, simple citizen or political leader.
No doubt Mark Zuckerberg by announcing “to have banned Trump from Facebook for an indefinite period”, does he find there, a small personal revenge after being humiliated during a hearing in the Senate by Republican Senator Mitt Romney? Audience during which he showed himself in an unflattering light and as a character without consistency. This is not without concern in view of the rampant censorship exercised by this network.
This form of censorship manifests itself outside the framework of law (which precisely defines what may fall within the scope of the law: incitement to racial hatred, defamation, etc.) and the exercise of which falls to the judicial or political authorities as the democratically elected chambers of representatives of the Nation.
These firms arrogate to themselves an exorbitant power which is nothing other than a form of censorship.
The problem is that it is exercised without control and according to criteria vaguely defined by who knows who.
Here is the door open to all abuses, including against the just men who will perhaps one day defend the principles of democracy against a dictatorial temptation.
Because make no mistake these firms have no morals, they are guided only by profit and their short-term interest which is to retain the maximum number of clients even if this must be done to the detriment of the fundamental principles of freedom or even of the existence of states.
Trump’s accounts were followed by more than 88 million people. We do not wish to discuss here the merits of his interventions. But the bottom line is that it has been demonstrated that a simple commercial firm can effectively neutralize a political leader without further litigation.
The question now is to know if one day this tyranny can be exercised against leaders who will defend the vision of a free world?
What platform could they then use to maintain a direct link with the population to make themselves heard?
Totalitarian regimes, in China, North Korea or elsewhere, do nothing other than deny opponents access to social networks.
Do we now have to imagine alternative networks to guarantee the plurality of expression? Because any monopolistic situation carries with it the temptation of an even greater power
This episode is yet another blow to the weakening of political authority.
The bosses of GAFAM dream of a “liquid” global market to sell their services, that is to say a market without barriers on the part of the States, which impose their national standards, their administrative formalities, their law as a regulatory framework for social relations.
Among the factors that lead a state to impose its rules, there is the people who want to preserve their national identity, which is materialized by culture, heritage, traditions … and the incarnation of its representatives.
The objective of these stateless firms is therefore to make national identities disappear by diluting cultures, but also by assuming the capacity to intervene in public debate to accelerate the invalidation of political action.
And this to replace it with forms of governance more in line with the development of a large world market where exchanges will be “administered” and no longer subject to a singular political vision which always refers to the identity of the Peoples.
The more the GAFAM develops their power, while overwhelming the popular classes with their contempt, the more the populist phenomenon will take root and amplify and exacerbate itself to the point of destroying democracy in America, France or elsewhere.
Is the world we want? “
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