Brussels, Feb. 11, 2021 - The European Commission has advocated creating legislation for the digital space in the European Union "as soon as possible" rather than "acquiescing" to the rules imposed by tech giants based in California, in the US, such as Facebook and Twitter.

"If we do not have the ambition to become the legislators, we will be the legislated, meaning that we will have to abide by the rules created in Silicon Valley and which will be imposed in the EU," said Věra Jourová, a vice-president of the EU executive and commissioner in charge of values and transparency, in a debate in the European Parliament late on Wednesday on the balance between democratic scrutiny and fundamental rights on social networks.

"The time has come to get our hands dirty, as a matter of urgency," she said, calling on the assembly and the Council of the EU to "adopt as soon as possible" legislation proposed by the commissino in December.

Under discussion among lawmakers in the EU are new laws on digital services and digital markets that aim to create new obligations for platforms to ensure that what is a crime offline is also one online - such as incitement to hatred. These new laws foresee hefty fines for tech platforms that fail to comply.

Addressing the assembly, Jourová also pointed to the "impatience of some EU member states who want to move forward unilaterally and have their own rules for the internet." Instead, she argued, "we want to have a smart, pan-European situation, without fragmentation at member state level."

In order to hold digital platforms accountable and prevent them from having too much power, Jourová advocated a "solution that is ideologically neutral" and which "protects freedom of expression as a first priority."

Recalling last month's riots in the US Capitol - which were organised on social media and have led to the suspension from Facebook and Twitter of former US President Donald Trump - Jourová noted that "what happens online has a big influence on real life.

"We have to draw lessons from what happened in January [because] social networks were the means of spreading the message, in which violence was being incited," she pointed out, calling for more "accountability and awareness of the consequences" for tech companies.

She also called for more financial support for EU-based media to prevent them from being left carrying a heavy "financial burden" that unduly affects their activity.

The debate took place during a plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels. Portugal as holder of the presidency of the EU Council was represented in it by Ana Paula Zacarias, the secretary of state for European affairs.

ANE/ARO // ARO.

Lusa