Speeches

Madam President, 'put her on her back, spread her legs, put semen on her stomach' – these words are not fit to be pronounced in this Chamber, but these words are ruining the lives of women and children because Elon Musk built a tool that encourages men to do this on X. Where is the investigation to condemn this abominable and illegal behaviour? Yesterday, the German press reported that the cabinet of the Commission President stopped the department of the Commission that had prepared that investigation, which was ready to go. Shame on you, Madam President. And it's getting worse. This morning, the news broke of more cases of AI-generated child abuse images generated by Grok and still online. Doing nothing, you are aiding and abetting child abuse. This is a really dark moment. Fortunately, my heroes are here with us today: Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg from the German organisation HateAid are watching us today from the visitor's gallery. They defend the victims of deepfake nudes and hateful speech. They are not afraid to speak out. They are not afraid to stand up to the tech bullies. And that is why they were sanctioned by President Trump. May the Commission President be inspired by your courage.

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, the distraction of the European Union has been Putin's goal for years. And now, with the National Security Strategy, Trump has joined the club, and their goals are clear: a weak and divided European continent, a polarised society and far right parties in power. I am looking at every group in this House except the far right corner, where Putin's friends sit. And I'm looking at the European Commission: Putin, Trump and Musk have declared war against you. They want you out. They want everybody out who fights for democracy. They have a powerful weapon and they're using it: social media. Elon Musk systematically 'downranks' – that means 'censors' – the speech of pro‑European political parties, violating our freedom of expression. In turn, he boosts pro‑Putin parties that want to destroy the European Union. The evidence from Germany, Poland and the UK is overwhelming, and we want the European Commission to finally investigate this. X is not the only one: TikTok force feeds far right content to people who do not choose that. Would we tolerate one party getting 80 % of the TV space in a democracy? No, we would not. Then why do we accept that social media oligarchs impose this on our citizens in the online world? Why do we accept that the whole business model of social media is hate? Commissioner McGrath, you just said peace comes from respecting people, not from dividing them. So why do we accept the business model of an information online ecosystem that is built on dividing people, that is built on spreading hate? Colleagues, Commissioner, my constituents are deeply concerned about these attacks on our democracy. They are asking Europe to fight. But the person who could do that today is not even in the room. Executive Vice‑President Virkkunen has something more urgent to do than to listen to the concerns of citizens in Parliament. And I hope she's not meeting a big tech company. Tyranny requires our fear and our silence. Democracy requires courage and requires us to speak up. And I am speaking up. I will not be silent. And I am asking the European Commission to stand up for Europe. Vive l'Europe!

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. Democracy is being mercilessly attacked. There have always been enemies of democracy. Today, however, they have an instrument that gives them an advantage over democrats – digital platforms that reward disinformation, lies and hatred with attention, reach and a lot of money through advertising revenue. On the other hand, Europe already has a powerful shield, which is called DSA, DMA and the AI Act. But this is hardly applied by the Commission – for fear of blackmail by the US. Yesterday, US Trade Secretary Lutnick said again in Brussels that if we want better tariffs for the steel industry, we need to lower the level of protection for European citizens in the digital space. This is what we see in France: Children's sex dolls are offered for sale on platforms. We have seen how in the USA the large MAGA accounts are largely controlled from abroad. That's what they want for us – that's not what we want! The other reason to succumb to this blackmail was Ukraine. But anyone who has looked at the 28-point plan of Russian demands, who sees how the US is trying to impose this dictatorial peace on Ukraine, can no longer believe that Trump wants to defend peace and democracy in Europe. Among the many measures of the Democracy Shield, there is one that is really effective: These are the European social networks that demand all citizens in Europe, regardless of tech billionaires, where users choose the content. We should urgently work together on this now.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. President Trump has TikTok bought in the US from his allies – someone may remember Orbán – and has already announced that he would like to turn it into a MAGA propaganda machine. And the European Commission cannot yet answer the question of whether we in Europe will continue to keep the Chinese TikTok or get the American campaign propaganda. Does it even make a difference? TikTok is already showing new users more extreme right-wing content than anything else. In the German federal election campaign, a total of 78 percent of the content that was played out to neutral users, new users, came from the AfD. In the run-off election in Poland, the ratio was five to one for the far-right candidate. Every day, European citizens ask me why they have to put up with this brainwashing. And then the call for a European law is made. But the crazy thing about it is: We have this law. But the Commission refuses to really apply it. The DSA says bluntly: If large digital platforms create a systemic risk for public discourse and elections, then the Commission must act. But she doesn't do that because she's afraid, as are many governments. Democracy is when people can choose their own content on TikTok, not when Elon Musk or the Chinese government dictates it – that's exactly what it is! And you duck away and clear the way for this digitally controlled fascism. Commissioner, it is up to you to ensure democracy, freedom of expression and media pluralism on the Internet, too, by making sure that people see again on the platforms what they have really chosen and not any of them. Tech Bros Or the Chinese government. And act now, because soon it's too late.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, The attack on European democracy is in full swing, and that is why the European Shield must be large-scale. The European Commission must not be intimidated by President Trump and tech companies spreading conspiracy fantasies of lack of freedom in Europe, while Trump silences universities, media and law firms in the US and declares war on a city of its own country. The Commission must act now – courageously – and finally change these algorithms. This is so that users can finally see what they choose for themselves. There must be an end to Musk's and Zuckerberg's dictatorship of opinion, which imposes disinformation and hatred on us. New social networks must have a real opportunity in Europe, because everyone can have a voice there, and that is democracy, as the rapporteur has already said today. And one more thing: Currently, the biggest attack on press freedom in Europe is Google's monopoly on online advertising. No public funding of media can compensate for the enormous losses caused to publishers by this breach of law. That's why Vice President Ribera's case against Google is the best protection for free journalism and democracy. Thanks for that!

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. TikTok sends highly sensitive data of its users, often children and adolescents, to China and thus violates European laws. There is finally a penalty for that. It's time. I hope more will come soon. In concrete terms, however, this also means: An authoritarian regime can spy on and purposefully manipulate Europe using the most sensitive data profiles of millions of users to destroy our democracy. On TikTok, people are put in drawers in a matter of seconds and then gradually radicalized by becoming more extreme. content is shown. This is not decided by the people themselves, this is decided by TikTok. TikTok himself and some gentlemen here on the right side of the plenary call this freedom of expression. But this is not freedom of expression, this is the freedom of TikTok, a company dependent on the Chinese regime, to dictate the timelines of European citizens. Behind this is a principle: The more radical the contentThe better. But that also means: On such a platform – and TikTok is not the only one – serious information does not stand a chance against propaganda campaigns. This also means that people lose faith in democracy. And that's exactly what China wants. Commissioner, you can change that. Encourage an investigation into the mechanisms that lead to disinformation and propaganda reaching more people than information. You can do that with the DSA. Stand up for the freedom of social media users to decide for themselves about their content and not to be dependent on non-transparent algorithms from China or even from the USA, from Elon Musk. Make sure that we finally get the results of the investigation into the influence of elections in Romania and Germany. I know that this is not really your core task, this is the task of Executive Vice-President Virkkunen, but it is not there today. According to reporting by Politico She just met the CEO of TikToc and went back to Brussels. If it is more important for this commission to talk to the CEO of TikTok than to the representatives of their people, then we have a problem here. I appeal to you, Commissioner, to do so...

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. In the 1970s, the employment rate of women rose particularly sharply in a suburb of Montreal. A subway line was built there, which allowed women to take on jobs in the city centre. Such transport projects, including large ones, can have different effects on women and men. We need to be able to see and understand these impacts in order to make effective and efficient fiscal policies. This is why we need strong analytical tools and a fair distribution of resources for the Multiannual Financial Framework. This is exactly what the report of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality does. By the way, this is not only good for women, it is also good for men, because the life expectancy of men increases with the level of equality of a society. That should be our common goal. It was all the more shocking that the EPP, after long negotiations a few days before the vote, cancelled the agreement of the Von der Leyen majority and wanted to vote together with the right-wing extremists against gender equality in the budget. I would like to thank all the members of the committee who did not take part in this misogynist game, who gave the report a majority and made it clear that equality must not be just a lip service.

Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, the English newspaper The Guardian put it in a nutshell: when the physicists need burner phones, that's when you know that America has changed. And they do need burner phones; a French scientist was recently prevented from entering the United States because US Border Patrol agents read his phone and found a personal opinion about Trump's science politics. The National Science Foundation is scouring thousands of research projects for dozens of newly prohibited words, and notified scientists to halt work that doesn't adhere to Trump's censorship. One word on that list is 'women'. The US prohibits public research about women. Let this sink in. 'Free speech is in retreat,' said Vice President J.D. Vance in Munich. Yes, it is – but not in Europe, in the US. But for Europe, this is a very special moment and also a special chance, because when Europe wasn't free, the US boosted their research, offering sanctuary to European scientists. And now it's our turn. Let us massively step up our programmes to welcome all scholars and scientists who want to research here. Let us turn Europe into the global sanctuary of academic freedom.

Madam President, Madam Executive Vice-President! The United States arbitrarily divides Europe into two categories: Countries that are allowed to introduce unlimited semiconductors for artificial intelligence and those that are not. What this incident shows is only one thing: Europe must stand together, must not be divided and must become more independent together. Europe now has the opportunity to build a complete digital value chain – from semiconductors to data centres, social media applications to artificial intelligence. It is time to break the dominance of a few large corporations and set up the EuroStack, an open standards-based digital infrastructure that secures our democracy and offers great opportunities for our companies. Especially now that leading members of the US government and CEOs of tech companies openly threaten Europe, we need to show our backbone. We have the talent, we have the research, we have the companies. What we need is a good industrial policy and, above all, political will and political courage. Let's tackle it!

In Romania there was a problem that year with the elections that the Romanian secret service highlighted, and that was that TikTok had labelled all competitors for the election as political content, and therefore was suppressing that content, keeping people from seeing that content in great numbers. While there was one candidate, the far-right content that TikTok had decided not to label as political content and therefore it could flood everybody's timelines. You know that TikTok is a Chinese company. Do you think it's correct that a Chinese company that reports to the Chinese Government decides which kind of political content the citizens of Romania can't see? Is that freedom of speech for you? Foreign Chinese influence.

Madam President, Executive Vice‑President Virkkunen, colleagues, the tech oligarchs are assaulting our democracy. Elon Musk is interfering with elections in the US and in Europe, enhancing the visibility of his own account and of far‑right accounts, flooding everybody's timelines with the content of his choice. And that's a choice of a guy who, yesterday at the inauguration, chose to make a Nazi salute. Mark Zuckerberg's algorithms push hateful content and foreign propaganda and disinformation. And, as the whistleblower Frances Haugen told us, that is not what people like, what people choose. It's what they engage with because it makes them angry. Executive Vice‑President, 10 days ago, you still told German media there was no proof for Elon Musk interfering with the algorithms. That is true. But that's the great thing about Europe, about the DSA and your job. You are the one who can prove it, and you're the only one in the world who has a legal basis to build a sound, court‑proof case. After weeks of silence vis-à-vis the attacks by Musk, Zuckerberg and Trump, now you need to go strong and fast. I have three measures that I would propose the European Commission now takes: urgent investigations in all relevant, very large online platforms to identify and stop the mechanisms that lead to disinformation spreading so much faster than information. Second, we need to protect elections right now. And there's a very easy solution to stop this manipulation: stop the recommender systems. Let people choose the content they want, without Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg imposing the content of their choice on people. And three, we need to send a very clear signal that the EU supports better social media that cannot be controlled by tech oligarchs, for example, Mastodon, for example, the initiative Free Our Feeds, and many others out there. Colleagues, we have seen the tech oligarchs yesterday standing behind President Trump. They will not stand down with their enormous power, their enormous wealth, control over information and networks, use of artificial intelligence, the willingness to ignore rules. They will never respect us if we don't stand up to them. You have the choice: kneel in front of unelected tech oligarchs or use the DSA to fight for the citizens who actually elected us. I have my choice. I will…

Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, around the world, women leaders face horrific levels of gender disinformation and online abuse, with dramatic consequences on their freedom of expression and on democracy, on the quality of democracy as a whole. Moldova is a case in point. President Maia Sandu was depicted as a foreigner, as a foreign agent, as too weak to lead the country, as a pro-Western agent promoting foreigners over her own citizens. And who was doing that? The top malign actors were actually agents of a foreign power of Putin. They were pro-Putin puppets, among them the condemned criminal, Ilan Shor, stole USD 1 billion from the Moldovan banking system and now is funnelling dark intransparent funds back into the country to attack President Sandu. In Georgia, pictures of President Zourabichvili were even posted on a porn site. Have you ever seen that done to a male leader? This happens systematically. But why are these attacks so successful? Because social media algorithms amplify hateful content against women and incentivise fake content. It's a toxic mixture. It's a political business model that builds on misogynist stereotypes and toxic algorithms. And these toxic algorithms, we can stop them because this needs to stop and we can do it. And the DSA gives us the opportunity to do it, to change these toxic algorithms in order to reduce online violence against women and to protect our public discourse and elections at the same time. And if we do this in the European Union, it shows that it can be done everywhere, that we can have a better internet that gives everybody freedom of expression and real democracy. Let's do it.

Madam President, Commissioner, Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen! Democracy is in danger. If algorithms spread disinformation six, ten or even a hundred times faster than facts, if every lie is rewarded with attention, but the facts completely disappear in the jungle of these lies, then our citizens no longer have a chance of good politics, because they need facts, they need truth. And through this mechanism, social media is now on the side of extremists. And this is of course gladly exploited by Putin's henchmen, who, like in Romania with thousands of bot accounts Spreading lies to help your candidate win. In Europe, we must and can tackle the evil at its root. In Romania, because of the misconduct of TikTok, an election must be repeated, with great danger to security, to consensus, to cohesion in the country. This proves that non-transparent, one-sided algorithms pose a threat to public discourse and elections, as is the case in European law. Digital Services Act is defined. On the basis of this Digital services acts The European Commission must now take action. It must crack down hard to protect the elections, so that on social media all political opinions get a chance for visibility again and not only those who spread hatred and lies.

Mr President! 360 women were killed in Germany in 2023, 360 in a year with 365 days. And each of them is one too many. At the same time, hate crime against women has increased by 56%. Women are increasingly being abused, slandered and threatened. The perpetrators are men. It is also correct: Not all men are perpetrators. But where are these men when it comes to increasing the funds for women's shelters so that all women and children can find safe refuge? Where are they when it comes to effectively fighting digital violence? And where were the ministers in the Council when the women from the Commission and this Parliament wrote a law that would have effectively protected women across Europe? They have prevented effective protection – the Justice Ministers in the Council. Dear men, it is good that most of you are not perpetrators. But the time when you could stand at the edge of the field is over. Fight with us. Fight with women to end violence against women and girls.

You might have noticed from my speech, I am German and I know that the biggest source of antisemitism has not come from Palestine, but from Europe. I have studied my history. As far as current antisemitism is concerned, I don't care what the source is. I don't care if it's far right, you know, or whether it is Muslim. It's not important. The important thing is that we combat it and that we protect Jews. This is what we need to do on the internet and that means going against terrorist or clearly illegal content. But as far as legal content is concerned – and a lot of content is legal – having opinions about the way Israel is defending itself, that is legal if it's not antisemitic. And this is where we need to change the algorithms to make sure that people access content they actually want to see and not the content that TikTok, that the platform, wants them to see, pushing them into a rabbit hole, because this is what drives radicalisation.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Nazi propaganda, extreme right-wing incitement, hatred of women or extremist Salafism: You can find it all on TikTok. But what young person is actively looking for such content? Almost no one. TikTok makes sure they see them anyway, because the platform flushes borderline videos into the timeline. And anyone who, out of curiosity or even horror, makes the mistake of watching them to the end or even commenting on them, perhaps even critically, gets the same content over and over again and ends up in a rabbit pickup. And if you consider that, on average, users spend 1.5 hours a day on TikTok, then you can imagine what happens when every second or third video is extremist: This creates a worldview that has virtually nothing to do with the real world. This is how people are radicalised – Islamist, right-wing radical, anti-Semitic or misogynistic. This has nothing to do with technology, but a lot to do with business models. Fortunately, we can act. With the Digital Services Act we can change these radicalisation algorithms so that users can choose their own content and that they are not put in front of them. And this is now our most urgent task to protect democracy, but also the security of our citizens in Europe.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Does Moldovan President Maia Sandu wear a headscarf? No, of course not. But in Russian disinformation campaigns on the Internet, it is constantly portrayed in this way, and that is one of the reasons why last week the referendum in favour of the EU was won so narrowly. 'Cause Deepfakes Conspiracy ideologies reach the people of Moldova much more than any form of objective reporting, pushed by the algorithms of social networks that reward lies as much as racist or sexist stereotypes, but slow down serious press and real facts. This is not just a Moldovan problem. The same thing is happening in the European Union – with one difference: We can change it. Based on the Digital Services Act, we can and must define disinformation as a systemic risk to public discourse and elections. And then we have to make sure that on this basis, tech companies design their algorithms in such a way that users choose what ends up in their timelines, what they see on the Internet. Today, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg or TikTok decide the recipients of the Chinese government's orders. And that's up to us to change now. And I would like to point out one more thing: The case of Maia Sandu shows an aspect that is always underexposed. Women are particularly affected by disinformation campaigns, are more often targeted by Russian and right-wing extremist campaigns, and the algorithms spread attacks on women in particular. This must also be in Democracy Shield are taken into account.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! Yesterday, Meta finally banned Putin's propaganda channel RT, which has long been sanctioned in Europe due to war propaganda. So it took a long time before Meta was ready to finally renounce a small part of its profit, which it earns with this state-organized Russian propaganda and disinformation machine. This, by the way, is what the right-wing side of this House calls freedom of expression. Yes, we found out this week: The Russian agency SDA wanted the AfD to get over 20% in Germany, which is why it intervenes with us in our democracy. That's what you call freedom of expression? Ask the Russian opposition what they think of Putin's freedom of speech. Why is this disinformation so powerful? This was already the case in the Soviet Union, and it is not a new concept at all. But it is so powerful now because the platforms are playing in the same team – be it TikTok, be it Google with YouTube, be it Meta: With their algorithms, they ensure that extremist messages, that everything that relies on fear and anger, gets much more reach than everything that democratic politicians can achieve with factual content, with positive emotions. This is now our task in Europe with the Digital Services Act. It is good that we hold platforms to account that endanger our children, that lead girls into anorexia. It's good that we have a look at e-commerce and these platforms. But for true freedom of speech, we need more. Today's functioning of social media endangers democracy itself in its essence. If platforms systematically give wings to extremist messages, if they play out lies to many more people than facts, then democracy becomes impossible. For a true democracy, we need algorithms that give all opinions the same space, because citizens should decide for themselves what to see in their timeline. We don't want to leave that to unscrupulous billionaires with questionable, opaque business models. This is freedom of speech, and that is what we are fighting for.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen! At a street festival in Solingen, three people were killed by an Islamist. This fills me with pain and grief, and my sympathy goes out to the victims and their families. This is also an attack on our freedom, on our free society, and that is why we have to stop the terrorists where they are radicalising – on the internet. The algorithms of TikTok and YouTube play videos of hate preachers specifically to unstable young men. Every minute, young people are lured with Islamist content and systematically incited. This turbo-radicalization must stop. We have the tools for that. At the European level, with the DSA, we can change the algorithms that make people more and more radical. We can ensure that the ban on storing religious affiliation or health determinants such as anxiety or depression in the data profiles is finally enforced, and we can better equip our police to quickly detect such content. These measures effectively protect our society, not the general suspicion for refugees, the closure of borders or even the deportation of well-integrated people to meet numbers.

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen. Artificial intelligence-generated nude images that can be found online forever for the whole world – this nightmare came true for Taylor Swift a few weeks ago. But it can happen to any of us. And many of the women so abused get anxiety disorders, suffer from depression or even take their own lives. That is why it is such a great success that the new directive on combating violence against women now clearly states: Publishing nude images without the consent of the person concerned is a criminal offence. What shocks me, however, is that the Council has made the hurdles so high that protection for the women concerned is again limited. Now serious damage has to be proven. Ladies and gentlemen, every woman knows that the publication of nude pictures against her own will is the definition of serious harm! What else is there to prove? Therefore, let us now fight at the national level for this perfidious form of violence against women to finally end! Let's fight for a Europe where women can live freely and safely!

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, On 24 September 2021, the ZDF magazine Royale showed how the FDP shows people with green interests an advertisement, according to which the party is committed to more climate protection with the help of a state CO2 limit. At the same time, the same FDP switched a Facebook advertisement to the target group of frequent travelers with a different message: No government action when it comes to climate change. Is that legal? Yes, yes. Is it right? I don't think so. Parties must clearly state what they stand for, to all people, and not to everyone else. The new law on targeting and transparency of political advertising had actually set out to put an end to precisely this manipulation of voters. Unfortunately, the Council prevented this. Yes, ad archives and more transparency are a big step in the right direction. But the use of personal data to play out different messages is still allowed. We will continue to fight for parties to make their goals and values visible to all people.

Mr President! 2024 is a super election year. On 9 June there will be European elections, which is why I am very grateful to the Commissioner for having already presented today the measures with which the Commission intends to protect the European elections on the basis of the DSA. Disinformation and hatred and hate speech are currently dominating social networks. Just a few days ago in Germany, the Federal Foreign Office uncovered a huge Russian disinformation campaign on X – 50,000 fake accounts that flooded the German public with one million tweets every two seconds. It is therefore very good that the Commission is working on measures and is implementing them consistently. But it is not enough; They remain on the surface, because the real problem is the business model of social networks. This is based on keeping people on platforms for as long as possible in order to be able to show them a lot of advertising. People stay longer when they interact, i.e. share or comment on content. Unfortunately, this works best with content that triggers fear or anger. Fear and anger are most easily triggered by lies, disinformation, hatred and hate speech. The algorithms recognize this, which therefore rank such content much higher, so they play it out much faster to more people. This is called interaction-based ranking, and that's why internet information has no chance against disinformation and positive reporting has no chance against hate and hate speech. And that's what we need to change. This also flows into the press, which then carries disinformation narratives into the general population with lurid titles. This leads to a dangerous distortion. Topics are no longer set according to social relevance, but according to the principle of profit optimization of digital platforms. Interaction-based ranking must end before the election. Because democracy thrives on the fact that voters can inform themselves freely, instead of being inundated by disinformation, hatred and hate speech.