The Party of European Socialists welcomes the move by Twitter to ban all political advertising from its feed in order to protect the integrity of public discussion. The PES believes all political parties must be able to pitch their ideas to the public and engage in meaningful conversation, without distortion from big money:

 

PES President Sergei Stanishev said:

 

“We believe that political parties should be judged by the quality of their ideas, not the size of their budgets. Social networks are a powerful tool to engage citizens in public discussion, but too often this conversation is artificially altered by big money.

 

“All companies from all sectors – public or private - bear social responsibility, especially those who are powerful and essential for democracy, such as the press or – increasingly – social media platforms. We commend Twitter for their decision - this is good for democracy and we call on other big players to follow suit."  

 

The PES has always stood for the protection of freedom of speech and the independence of the media. We stand firmly against all sources of fake news and misleading political messages, in order to protect the integrity of the European Union’s core values.