Today, Defend Democracy co-organised the first in a series of ‘HandsOFF Our Democracy‘ protests. Our founder and executive director gave the following speech.
A few months before I launched Defend Democracy*, just 50 meters from here we organised a peaceful protest in solidarity with the American ‘March for Truth’. That was in June 2017. We urged for finding out the truth about Russian interference in the American 2016 election (which helped Trump into power) and we drew attention to Russian interference in the Dutch referendum (on the EU-Ukraine association agreement) and Brexit referendum of 2016 and the French presidential election of early 2017. We also pointed to the role of digital platforms in all this: they were allowing pro-Russian and pro-Brexit bots, trolls and disinformation to run wild. One of the posters we made said: “EU and US say nyet to Russian interference.”
Eight years later, we are gathering here again. This time, it is not just Trump who says it is fine for Russia to interfere in the US elections. This time, the Trump regime not only thinks it is fine for Russia to interfere in their democracy. They are fine with Russia interfering in our democracies – and they are actively helping them. This time, Trump, Putin and techbros like Musk are teaming up to destroy not only American democracy, but also ours. We cannot let that happen!
Since at least 2014 we are watching a coup against democracy unfold. It is the combination of hybrid warfare, rise of the far-right, and tech coup. Therefore, Defend Democracy’s mission is to strengthen and defend democracy against foreign, domestic and technological threats. As Defend Democracy has pointed out over and over: these three threats are not separate from each other, but they are interconnected and reinforcing each other. But many people in the European Commission, European Council and European Parliament still don’t believe what their eyes are seeing.
They still believe that fact-checking and critical thinking will protect our citizens from being emotionally targeted by algorithms and propaganda; that humans can win from AI polluting our whole information ecosystem; that it is possible to have good-faith talks with Big Tech CEOs and lawyers; that the DSA and DMA are sufficient; that we have time to find out if they even work** — all this before our privacy has become non-existent due to digital surveillance, our social cohesion is lethally wounded by polarisation, and our democracies are undermined not only from the outside but also from within.
Dear European leaders, policymakers and European citizens, democracy won’t defend itself. With Trump, Putin and techbros teaming up, it is time for us to stand up!
In an interview published this morning, President Von der Leyen says that in Europe “we don’t have [tech]bros or oligarchs.” But how long can Europe hold the line if we don’t take defending our democracy as serious as defending our territory? What is the point of pouring billions into defence, if we are underinvesting in what we want to defend: our freedoms and rights, our democracy, the very existence of the European project? We need not only investments in hard security (like tanks) but also in democratic security: we must urgently fix the pillars and roof of our democracy, so that it becomes much harder to attack it from the outside or to undermine it from the inside.
Dear European Commission, we cannot allow the enforcement of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act to be used as bargaining chips in a trade war with the United States. American [and Chinese] tech is like Russian gas: it makes us addicted and dependent, which is dangerous – not only for our democracy, but also for our security. Paraphrasing Winston Churchill: “You are given the choice between dishonour and trade war. Chose dishonour, and you will have a trade war anyway.”
I would like to pass on a message from Romania***: “We are the canary in the coal mine. Set an example and act on TikTok!” If not, which country’s elections will be next? Poland? France?
“What we do in these next few months will determine whether Europe’s liberal democracy survives or is for ever lost. Investing in defence will be for naught if foreign powers – whether the US, Russia, or China – can [by weaponising algorithms] boost authoritarian collaborators within the EU.”****
HANDS OFF OUR DEMOCRACY! STOP THE TECH COUP!
* From 8 November 2017 we started raising awareness with just a website and Twitter account; we registered as a legal entity on 30 March 2020.
** That is: not only deliver transparency of the tech blackbox, but that transparency also somehow resulting in actual changes of algorithms.
*** Romania’s November 2024 Presidential election was annulled after intelligence revealed Russia had been involved in backing a far-right populist via illegal foreign interference via TikTok. The Constitutional Court supported the Central Electoral Bureau’s decision to bar the candidate’s candidacy from the rerun in May 2025.
**** Source: ‘Europe’s race to rearm is pointless if its adversaries are waging war online’ by Johnny Ryan
With today’s first ‘HandsOFF Our Democracy‘ protest we are:
- urging EU institutions and EU countries to defend our democracy
- standing up for our European democracy while we still can
- a strong enforcement of our digital rights and our freedoms
- a strong Digital Services Act decision on Musk and Meta and TikTok
Defend Democracy, 16 April 2025