PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron says he was “very upset” at how social media gagged Donald Trump at the end of his presidency in the United States.
Speaking in a video chat recorded with academics, Macron cited Trump’s example in defending more government regulation of social media platforms. The comments, which Macron made in English, were released Thursday by the think tank Atlantic Council.
“In the very second they were sure” that he would not remain in power, platforms that previously “helped President Trump be so effective” in making himself heard “suddenly turned off the microphone and turned off the microphone and hung up. . all platforms where it was possible for him and his supporters to express themselves, “said Macron.
“It was a unique response to be delivered, but it is not a democratic response,” he said.
After years of being vehicles of communication for Trump during his presidency, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter silenced their accounts during his final days in power after Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol in a deadly uprising on January 6. Twitter permanently closed Trump’s account, @ realDonaldTrump, who had 89 million followers.
Macron said that both the attack and the subsequent silencing of Trump’s accounts were disturbing. He said that more regulation of social networks is needed “to restore public and democratic order in this new space where our people think, live”.
“I don’t want to live in a democracy where the key decisions and the decision to, at the moment, cut the microphone … is decided by a private player, a private social network,” said the French leader.
“I want it to be decided by a law voted by its representative or by a regulation, a governance, democratically discussed and approved by democratic leaders.”