Chancellor Scholz: “Election will not be decided by social media owners.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/30/olaf-scholz-german-election-will-not-be-decided-by-social-media-owners?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

by SpookyMinimalist

25 comments

  2. But by lack of good policies of Olaf and his incompetent ministers

  4. The problem is not so much what social media owners say, but what algorithms, policies and responsibilities they deploy on their platforms.

    Take Reddit: it doesn’t respect the EU Digital Services Act. Moderation of most groups is managed by “unpaid volunteers” that often ban posts and users based on arbitrary censorship without appeal.

    I reported it to the EU and my national regulator, who replied (I paraphrase) *”sorry we don’t deal with specific cases”*. Well dear EU, if you don’t deal with specific cases, specific cases will deal with you.

  5. Social media may give, I don’t know, maybe 5% of push in one specific political direction. In presence of strong reasons to prefer one party, this should have little or no influence on election results. If instead all parties look the same ( bad in the same way ) to the electors, then any little nudge is important, be it a post on social media or the good looking of a candidate.
    So, if you want to reduce social media influesnce on the elections, give your potential electors a stronger reason to choose you.

  6. Too late, Scholz. It’s already happening.

    And of all social media owners, we all know Musk is, by far, the worst:

    [The Most Powerful Man in America is a Nazi Sympathizer](https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/one-of-the-most-powerful-men-in-america-is-a-nazi-sympathizer)

    For those still doubting whether AfD is a (crypto-, semi-, or whatever-like) fascist party, you should read that article.

    If we don’t start taking more drastic measures and start regulating the living shit out of social media, and hold their owners responsible and accountable for everything happening on the platforms they own, shit will only get worse. Then Musk *will* start buying European far-right politicians and European elections more and more.

    Start. With. Banning. X.

    X isn’t social media. It’s a fascist propaganda tool. And it should be treated as such.

  7. Saying so changes nothing.

    Act if you want change. Literally asking nicely that people doesn’t let them selves be influenced. Weak.

    > The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has urged voters not to let the “owners of social media channels” decide next year’s snap election …

    And I thought Merkel was bad.

  8. Why not? They are same human beings like all of us, just extremly wealthy. Who else should be disallowed? Maybe we go back to the german tradicions and disallowed all people because of their skin colour for example? Or by race, like jewish? Cmon scholz, tell us whats really in your mind, feel free

  9. Well… he’s wrong though. That’s exactly who decides elections. The algorithms of social networks are not transparent- they can push whatever I for they want to voters and we can do jack shit about it.

  10. Looks like Welt caused a lot of outrage letting Musk in.

    But judging by the recent events letting Musk speak is the best way for him to embarrass himself and his ideas.

  12. Before even reading the article all I am thinking is I hope that quote sounds better with some context because otherwise someone is so out of touch.

  13. “…not to mention that pesky television thing!”

    how about “elections won’t be decided by small elites of old and rich people”, for a change?

  14. All these politicians feel so out of touch

    How is social media any different than a newspaper? Newspapers have always catered to what their readers want to see and a handful of paper owners controlled the national narrative.

  17. They were fine when it was pushing their candidates.

  19. There have been a lot of commenters who disagree with this statement. You need to take this sentence literally. He’s appealing to the German public to vote by thinking for themselves instead of just doing what Musk says.

  21. So when celebrities like taylor swift endorses kamala harris it’s ok but when elon musk endorses afd it’s not…

  22. All talk but no action, and then they’ll act surprised when the far right wins. X should be banned in Europe, and it should be illegal for a politician to receive money from a foreign donator

  23. Elections have been decided by media propaganda for a long time, they really think we’re stupid

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