site.btaBulgarian MEPS Believe Complete Ban on TikTok Isn't Solution

A complete ban on TikTok is not a solution to the problem, Bulgarian MEPs believe. On the day when the European Commission launched an official investigation against the social network over elections in Romania, the issue was widely debated in the EP plenary in Strasbourg. After the debate, BTA approached for comments Bulgarian MEPs from the different political groups. They rallied around the idea that a complete ban of TikTok is not a solution to the problem, but they differed with respect to whether strict regulation of social networks is needed.

"I don't think that if we make social networks a forbidden fruit, we will stop their influence," said Eva Maydell of EPP/GERB.

"I do not believe we can influence algorithms or chatbots just by imposing fines on technology companies. We need to have stricter legislation, and it seems at the moment," she added.

Eva Maydell said what happened in Romania is a manipulation supported by Russia and did not rule out a similar scenario for countries such as Bulgaria, Austria or Germany.

"I am afraid that also here in the European Parliament the steam is often spent on the whistle. We identify a problem, but we do not see in depth the causes of this problem", said Kristian Vigenin from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats/BSP.

He calls for clearer and stricter regulations regarding the algorithms used by TikTok.

"We need to know the way they operate, how they are set up, how they track our activity and what they are selling us. It's not just a matter of banning TikTok and cancelling the election. It is a question of turning to see who are the people who voted for Calin Georgescu in Romania. Do not tell me that just because somebody saw a video on TikTok, they decided to vote for him. It doesn't work like that. Otherwise, I will also set up a TikTok account, which I do not have yet, and I will stream my messages and wait for thousands, millions to vote for me. It doesn't work like that", Vigenin believes.

"I have a TikTok account, I plan to continue developing it, and I will become president one day. If they don't ban elections," said tongue-in-cheek Peter Volgin of Europe of Sovereign Nations/Vazrazhdane.

Unlike Vigenin, however, he is suspicious of any type of regulation. In his words, there are prohibitive instincts behind them. In his view, if regulated, social networks would become more subservient, not more responsible or safe.

"We always want a ban on something we are not comfortable with. That is, when we think something threatens ourselves and our positions of power, the easiest thing to do is to ban it," Volgin believes.

Similar to Eva Maydell, he also shared fears that what has been seen in Romania could happen tomorrow in Bulgaria, Germany, Italy.

"You can always come up with some reason why the powers that be change or outright cancel the results when they don't like them, and that's very dangerous," Volgin said.

Of suspicions of Russian interference in Romania's electoral process, Volgin gave the example of the 2016 US election, when Donald Trump was elected president.

"Then again, very smart talking heads and politicians said, well, it happened because the Russians interfered. There was a long investigation that proved no Russian propaganda. Now, again, there's talk that Donald Trump had won because of Elon Musk. Apparently, these people think Americans are so stupid that all it takes is for an Elon Musk to show up and turn their thinking by 180 degrees. The same applies to other countries," Volgin said.

It is not the network's fault, he said.

"In the same way, we can blame the knife manufacturers that they are guilty because there is a knife murder. But the knives are not to blame. It is people who use them. The thing is not to ban the social network because it gives rise to some dangerous practices. The thing is to get people not to give in to bad influences. Same as with the atom. You have the atom bomb, but you also have nuclear power plants. One is good, the other is not," Volgin explains.

Ivaylo Valchev of the European Conservatives and Reformists/ There Is Such a People made a similar comparison.

"It's like talking about guns. A weapon does not kill by itself. A gun or an assault rifle does not shoot without someone holding it and pulling the trigger", he noted and added that the problem is not the platforms, but the people.

Ivaylo Valchev also explained that the technical problem with TikTok is that it is not known where its data is stored and where its servers are located.

"If the EU has agreements with US companies and we know what is stored where, we know nothing about China," he said, but added that a complete ban on TikTok would be a primitive reaction.

"It is very important not to shut channels through which people can express their opinions and get information. This is a basic human right," Valchev believes.

Nikola Minchev of Renew Europe/Continue the Change too argued that a complete ban on one or another social network is not a solution to the problem.

"I always give an example with the Prohibition era in the US. Did it stop alcohol consumption? No. But it gave rise to bootlegging. So, we have to be very careful that if we impose a ban, we aren't actually opening Pandora's box," he said.

Nikola Minchev believes that Bulgaria is unprotected from hybrid attacks.

"In Romania we see how measures were taken, albeit post facto, only after the first round of the presidential elections. But we still see measures taken. In Bulgaria, the question remains what the Bulgarian services would do if they detected such foreign interference at all. There are many examples where our partner countries have shown us that there is foreign interference on Bulgarian territory where there is a very strong Russian connection. For example, the poisoning of Emilian Gebrev [arms trader], the explosions at ammunition depots. Is there a reaction from the Bulgarian services? No," he said.

According to him, disinformation and hybrid attacks remain a hallmark of the Russians.

"Why? Because they lack the pulling power of the EU and the Western world in general. When the EU addresses the citizens openly and publicly, the citizens of Moldova or Georgia, when the EU addresses the citizens of such countries with a call to vote for the pro-European path of these countries, that here we will share common values, and of course the chance for a similar standard is very high, it means something, it its pulling power. Because Russia lacks such pulling power, it is forced to pull countries with alternative methods, with such hybrid attacks," Nikola Minchev believes.