This is how the EU wants to regulate social media

The European Commission wants to force tech giants to quickly remove illegal content that is discovered and give users the opportunity to appeal the suspension and deletion of posts - these are some of the European Commission's proposals for how social media companies should be regulated.

Margrethe Vestager is the EU Commissioner with responsibility for competition issues, who has made herself known for bringing the tech giants to justice.

She says that it should not be companies' global "one size fits all" rules that determine what is allowed online or not. 

- The online world must adapt to everything we have already agreed that it applies offline.

The platforms must comply with national legislation.

"Remarkable that Trump's account was deleted" 

An important change concerns the removal of posts and the suspension of users.

Not least current now with former US President Donald Trump who is still ported from Facebook and Twitter.

With the new EU rules in place, such a case would not have had to go as far as a suspension, Vestager says. 

- Sure, he really crossed a line in his last posts.

But it is still remarkable that all his previous tweets and posts were considered okay and tolerated.

With the new EU rules, the platforms would have been forced to interact with him much earlier and warn him that he is posting content that is flagged as untrue, bordering on the illegal or illegal.

So that it does not come as a surprise to him if he is later turned off. 

It should be possible to appeal a suspension

When it has gone so far that a user has been suspended or posts have been deleted, he should have the right to appeal the decision to some kind of arbitration board.

It remains to be seen how it would be put together and work in practice, but it should be an external body that takes into account the country's local rules and morals, Vestager says. 

- It is important that it is at the national level.

A Dane and a Swede may have different opinions about what is okay online.

Danes are quite robust in their way of discussing, while Swedes are the most civilized on earth.

We should not try to standardize, but leave room for national differences.

The new EU rules must be approved by the European Council and the European Parliament before they become a reality.

Earliest 2022.