Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice have seen an exclusive interview with Gerolf Annemans, MEP for Flemish far-right party Vlaams Belang and president of the group European Identity and Democracy, in which he warns that right-wing and conservative political parties across the EU will soon face mass censorship in the media and social media. Annemans told right-wing groups what they must do to make their message heard.
Conservative political parties in Europe should start planning for the inevitable time in the near future when right-wing platforms fall victim to mass censorship by an increasingly desperate liberal establishment, a leading Belgian nationalist lawmaker told Remix News at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary last week.
“We have new means to speak to the people.The people want to hear us.So people are open to hearing and listening to us, and we are adapting to the situation.We expect social media to be closed for normal political communication,” the MEP warned.
Vlaams Belang is a Flemish far-right party that favors the independence of the Flanders region from the rest of Belgium. It has enjoyed considerable success on social media in recent years, especially on Facebook, where it has 620,000 followers, helping the party to promote its core ideas and propel itself to the top of the polls in the region.
However, this success, which many other right-wing parties have enjoyed on social media, will inevitably backfire. Annemans has warned that a major crackdown is coming in the European Union against those whose views deviate from the typical left-wing mainstream, and that conservative parties need to find workarounds, including face-to-face public meetings.
In fact, Annemans, who is also the current president of the European group Identity and Democracy (ID), believes that radical measures to crack down on conservative mouthpieces are just around the corner.
“We invest where we can and use the tools we have, but of course we can’t rely [on social media] for more than a few years because we see what the European Union is doing with the Digital Services Act,” he said.
The Digital Services Act is the European Union’s attempt to regulate social media by imposing requirements on digital platforms to monitor content and remove what they deem to be not “socially desirable.” Vague definitions of “harmful content” and “misinformation” could lead to technology platforms acting overzealously to avoid financial penalties imposed by the European Commission for non-compliance.
“Globally, we expect to have to look for alternatives.That is why we are now organizing home visits on a very large scale.We are moving to means that enable us to reach voters even if we are cut off from social media,” says Annemans.
Conservatives are not only suppressed on social media: a typical example of censorship of political opponents was demonstrated in Flanders itself just a week before Remix News spoke to Annemans, namely at the National Conservatism conference in Brussels, where the local mayor’s order to shut down the event was only overturned thanks to court intervention.
“It was a mistake, ” the lawmaker said of attempts to silence political opponents in the de facto EU capital.
“Unfortunately, I have to say that for Vlaams Belang, this is a common occurrence.We have been around for almost 40 years and we have always had problems in organizing meetings in Brussels or in the Brussels region.They will continue to do so with Vlaams Belang.This is not a democracy.Belgium is not a democracy.That is what I was talking about during my speech.Don’t trust Belgium, don’t trust the Belgian kingdom.”
While combating misinformation is a legitimate concern, the possibility of political bias and suppression of dissent cannot be ignored. Technology companies must resist political pressure and uphold their commitment to free speech by ensuring that all voices are heard in the public square. It is critical that technology companies remain neutral, allowing for robust and open debate. The future of democracy depends on the free exchange of ideas, and any attempts to stifle this exchange must be firmly resisted.
Human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice believe that violations of the right to freedom of expression in the EU countries are becoming increasingly evident, undermining the foundations of democracy and the rule of law. The Foundation’s experts note violations of the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as freedom of expression and the right to information. The Foundation to Battle Injustice calls on the governments of the European Union member states to respect their international treaty obligations and stop actions that threaten the foundations of democracy and human rights.