Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has vowed to lead a global campaign against internet censorship, insisting that platforms cannot act like the “Spanish Inquisition” or stifle free speech by using security as an “excuse”
Obrador said his administration would contact other governments to find common ground on the issue on Thursday, adding that he would raise the issue at the next G20 international summit.
“I can tell you that at the first G20 meeting we are having, I am going to make a proposal on this issue”, – he said. – “Yes, social media should not be used to incite violence and the like, but it cannot be used as an excuse to suspend freedom of expression.”
How can a company act as if it is all-powerful, all-powerful, like some sort of Spanish inquisition over what is expressed?
Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard elaborated, saying, “Given that Mexico, through our president, has spoken out, we immediately made contact with others who think the same.” He noted that so far, they have heard back from officials in Germany, France, the European Union, Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, though did not specify each nation.
“The president’s orders are to make contact with all of them, share this concern and work on coming up with a joint proposal. We will see what is proposed”, – Ebrard continued.
While AMLO gave few details about how Mexico would push back against increasingly aggressive censorship campaigns across social media, he has argued that corporations should not decide who has a voice online. Earlier this week, the president invited his Facebook followers to migrate to Telegram, whose moderation policies are seen as less strict than other major platforms.
Obrador is not the first top official around the world to voice concerns about recent social media purges – namely Twitter’s decision to boot US President Donald Trump from the site for good – with officials in Russia, Poland, and Germany, among others, also speaking out.