Putin’s veiled attack came amid international outrage over the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny with some Western countries mulling new sanctions against Moscow.
The Internet has created channels of communication that play a key role in circulating news, and social media has the power to change not just the message, but the dynamics of political corruption, values and the dynamics of conflict in politics. Through the use of social media in election processes, global conflict and extreme politics, diplomacy around the world has become less private and susceptive to the public perception.
Indelible Effect of Social Media on State Politics
Social networks came under fire after Russian trolls used them to sow discord among Americans during the 2016 US Presidential election. Social media companies have billions of users, and people spend a lot of time in those ecosystems. Putin explained that the social media companies provide so many services to users that also consolidates big data and can use the data to manage the community at their own discretion; to usurp and limit the rights of the people to live, to choose, and to speak out. Putin said, “We all know what happened in the United States.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently criticized the growing influence of U.S Social media giants, saying their influence on society means they are now capable of compete with elected governments.
“Digital giants have been playing an increasingly high role in wider society”– Vladimir Putin
Speaking at the World Economic Forum for the first time since 2009, Putin mentioned a wide range of topics including the coronavirus pandemic, his recent call with President Joe Biden and economic inequality worldwide which leads to the growth of populism, and right and left-wing radicalism.
“We are now talking about economic giants, aren’t we? In certain areas, they are competing with states and their audience can include millions and millions of users,” he said, citing recent events in the politics of the U.S. Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to recent censorships in politics in the United States. He did not particularly mention any tech company but said, “Here is the question, how well does this monopolism correlate with the public interest?”
Watch: Putin raises concern over growing clout of US social media giants
His comment about recent political events in the US apparently referred to giant social media houses such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter imposing restrictions on former President Donald Trump after his supporters stormed the US Capitol on June 6.
Recently, Google said that it would block its search engine to users in Australia if the government moves ahead with plans to introduce a new code that would force it on Facebook to pay media companies for the right to use their content. The dispute is another in growing attempts to regulate Big Tech. Putin said global growth is fundamentally unstable because there is a host of social and economic issues. He said countries need to work together to identify the sources of global tension and move towards economic recovery.
Kremlin disdains hype over Navalny arrest
Putin’s remark on the Davos Agenda summit comes amid international outrage over the arrest of Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny, with some Western authorities weighing the opportunity of new sanctions against Moscow over the arrest of Navalny. In a defiant challenge to Putin, mass demonstrations in more than 100 cities over the weekend saw tens of thousands of people protest against the detention of the opposition leader. Allies of Navalny have called for more protests in the coming days to keep up the pressure on the Kremlin. Foreign ministers from the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan as well as the high representative of the European Union, have condemned the “politically motivated” arrest of Navalny.
The supporters also called for Navalny’s immediate and unconditional release and expressed “deep concern on the detainment of thousands of protestors and journalists.” In response to calls for Navalny’s urgent release from detention, the Kremlin has previously said that Navalny’s case has received “artificial” resonance in the West.
The First Biden-Putin Interaction
Biden spoke with Putin for the first time since the former’s inauguration earlier this month. He confronted with the Russian president by highlighting a number of issues from a recent massive cyber-attack, including the poisoning of Navalny reportedly by the Soviet era nerve agent, Novichok. The lengthy list of topics for Biden’s first conversation with Putin illustrates the troubled state of affairs between Washington and Moscow that he inherited from the previous administration.
According to a statement from the White House, Biden warned Putin that the US would act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia, that could harm them or their allies. In his address, Putin also warned that the corona virus pandemic has exacerbated preexisting global problems and imbalances, and that these could deteriorate to a point where there is a fight of “all against all.”