The question “about social communication sites and public safety” was included in the session of the Saeima Media Policy Subcommittee today. During the meeting, the head of the subcommittee, Atis Švinka (P), quoted a part of the VDD limited availability letter to the subcommittee.
The Special Service’s letter states that, in accordance with its competence, the VDD constantly monitors developments in the information space, including social networking sites, in order to identify a possible threat to Latvia’s national security interests.
The analysis carried out by VDD shows that the applications “TikTok” and “Telegram” are widely used for the distribution of such content, which is associated with risks to Latvia’s information space and national security interests.
The letter describes several cases where social networks were used to spread disinformation and recruit criminals. In the VDD’s view, the applications “Telegram” and “TikTok” do not provide sufficient monitoring of the content published by users, the deletion of unwanted content does not take place, propaganda created by Russia is spread unchecked on both platforms, and attention is not paid to identifying and deleting terrorist and other unwanted content.
VDD stated in the letter to the deputies that “Telegram” is used by a large number of pro-Kremlin-minded users, which allows them to recruit new people and try to obtain intelligence information. Also, the VDD states that “Telegram” is used to glorify various terrorism and commit crimes, therefore creating a threat to Latvia’s security.
In the assessment of the VDD, the decision on the possible restriction of “Telegram” and “TikTok” should be made politically, moreover, the restriction should take place on a wider regional level, that is, at least in all the Baltic states or even in the entire European Union.
When considering such a step, it is essential that the blocking is real, that is, access to such platforms is not easily accessible to the majority of the population of Latvia. If, however, restriction were possible, then it should be ensured that it would be a time-consuming and complex process that would require special knowledge.
At the same time, VDD warns that when blocking this type of apps, it is necessary to be aware that new similar apps may be developed in their place, which can take the place of these specific apps in a fairly short time.
2024-09-20 19:51:28