We are tired of seeing our democracies in Europe remain passive in the face of the rise of the far right, supported by the disinformation that billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg allow to circulate on their platforms. The demand for European regulation has become more urgent than ever. We would like the proposal by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, calling for the elimination of anonymity on social networks and the introduction of criminal liability for platform owners, to be discussed and approved by the European Parliament.

Statistics show that social media platforms play a major role in the spread of fake news. According to a 2018 report by the Pew Research Center, about 68% of Americans claim to have encountered fake news on social media. The situation is not much different in Europe. Another study, published in Science, analyzed politically motivated tweets during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, highlighting that the spread of fake news was concentrated among a limited number of users, primarily with right-wing or far-right political leanings. Elon Musk’s interview with Alice Weidel, leader of the German neo-Nazi party AfD, which was live-streamed on X and propagated various baseless claims including the assertion that Hitler was a communist is just the tip of the iceberg. It is our duty to protect the truth, democracy, and our rights.

If we care about democracy and our rights, it is essential to unite our voices to limit the power of these entities and their owners through decisive European regulation. For this reason, we ask you to sign this petition.