Hungary’s Justice minister Judit Varga has called an extraordinary meeting of the Digital Freedom Committee tasked with monitoring online space over what she says are violations of democratic norms by tech giants.
In an English-language post on Facebook on Monday, Judit Varga said tech firms were violating “all those fundamental democratic legal norms that form the basis of Western-type culture” by secretly restricting the visibility of, or “shadow banning” certain users “for political purposes”.
The minister cited a recently leaked recording of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in which he is heard telling staff members that the company’s policy enforcement actions would go “far beyond” the suspension of US President Donald Trump’s account. She also accused Facebook of limiting “the visibility of Christian, conservative, right-wing opinions”, adding that she had “personal experience” of such practices.
Varga said the ministry is contributing to the European Union regulation of global tech companies with the work of the Digital Freedom Committee, indicating the need to take prompt action.
To that affect, she said she will also meet later this week with the head of the Hungarian Competition Authority to discuss possibilities of sanctioning unfair trading practices.
Featured photo via Judit Varga’s Facebook page
