Slovenia ruling party quits Twitter over ‘hate speech’ and fake news concerns

Slovenia’s ruling Freedom Movement party (GS) said Saturday it had decided to stop using Twitter over concerns the social network was being used to spread fake news and hate speech.

“Considering the behaviour and announcements by Twitter’s new owner and management, we can expect they will further open its doors to indecent communication and hate speech,” GS said in a statement, referring to the platform’s recent takeover by billionaire Elon Musk. 

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Liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob’s party won April’s parliamentary elections with a programme that promised to restore decency in politics and strengthen the rule of law, which critics say was undermined by former conservative prime minister Janez Jansa.

Jansa, an avid user of Twitter with over 100,000 followers in a country of two million, used the platform to attack critics and media – while Golob said he would not use Twitter “to avoid the temptation of fast fingers”.

Twitter account blocked

The GS – which holds 41 of the 90 seats in parliament – said its Twitter account had been blocked for three weeks due to technical problems and over time it had realised it did not need it to efficiently address citizens.

“At the same time, the platform has been abused by members and supporters of some political parties to polarise society, spread fake news, manipulate, discredit, offend or even to use hate speech,” the GS said, adding it does not want to be part of it.

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