German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged social media platforms to comply with European laws, warning that they won't be permitted to undermine democratic systems..
"Of course we Europeans demand that tech companies, like everyone else, abide by European law-whether they are called TikTok, X, or something else," Steinmeier said Friday, referring to two of the most popular platforms. "We must not and will not allow platforms to destroy our democratic societies or cause serious harm to our children," he said.
The remarks came amid a push by a number of countries, from Australia to Türkiye, to impose minimum age requirements for social media to better protect young people, whose minds are thought to be especially impressionable to the lure of digital platforms.
The German president made the remarks on Friday at the Munich Security Conference, attended by leaders and top government ministers from around the world, including US Vice President JD Vance, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Steinmeier also underlined that European countries will invest heavily in the coming years to strengthen their position in digital technology and improve their AI capabilities and infrastructure.
His remarks also came amid escalating tensions between the US administration and Berlin before Germany's Feb. 23 parliamentary elections. At the conference, US Vice President Vance gave a controversial speech criticizing European governments for opposing right-wing populist and far-right parties, claiming this stance was anti-democratic. Vance then met with AfD (Alternative for Germany) Co-Chair Alice Weidel in Munich, a move that signaled support just days before Germany's parliamentary elections.
Elon Musk, the owner of X and a close ally of US President Donald Trump, also backed Vance's comments at the conference by posting on X: "Make Europe Great Again! MEGA, MEGA, MEGA."
The tech billionaire has repeatedly supported the far-right AfD, despite broad criticism from both center-left and center-right German political parties. On Thursday, Musk posted on X that "AfD is the only hope for Germany."
Since Musk bought X (then Twitter) in 2022, the platform has become known as a haven for far-right views, with critics saying Musk now spreads the type of disinformation the platform once banned.
The anti-immigrant AfD currently polls at around 20%, positioning it to become the second-largest party in the Feb. 23 elections. However, it will likely remain outside any coalition government, as all other parties have refused to cooperate with the right-wing extremists.
The center-right CDU/CSU alliance, led by Friedrich Merz, holds a commanding lead with 30% in recent surveys. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) stands at 16%, with their coalition partner the Greens at 14%.
Though the CDU/CSU alliance leads the polls, they will need to form a coalition government. Merz has not yet indicated whether he would prefer to partner with the SPD or the Greens.
