“Think of information manipulation as a virus. Instead of treating an infection once it has taken hold, that’s the de-bunking, it is better to vaccinate, so that our body is inoculated,” Ursula von der Leyen says.
The European population must be “vaccinated” against views the establishment doesn’t agree with, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Speaking at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit earlier this month, von der Leyen unveiled her “European Democracy Shield” plan that aims to “detect disinformation and malign interference…remove content, including [artificial intelligence] deepfakes, [and] to make our societies more resilient.”
In other words, the “Democracy Shield” is just a euphemism for censorship and “societal resilience” is another term for compliance.
“Think of information manipulation as a virus. Instead of treating an infection once it has taken hold, that’s the de-bunking, it is better to vaccinate, so that our body is inoculated. Pre-bunking is the same approach,” she said.
Von der Leyen Vows To ‘Vaccinate’ EU Population Against ‘Wrongthink’
People in society who hold views that contradict the globalist narrative must have their minds “inoculated” against “wrongthink” according to European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen
Speaking at the… pic.twitter.com/qICbZY8y6n
— Camus (@newstart_2024) May 28, 2024
“Because disinformation relies on people passing it on to others – it is essential that people know what malign information influence is and what the techniques looks like. As that knowledge goes up – our chances of being influenced goes down. And that builds up the societal resilience that we will need.”
Of course, von der Leyen and her ilk have characterized any information that contradict their narratives as disinformation, including criticism of lockdowns, the experimental COVID vaccines, digital IDs, masks and social distancing, mass migration, the Ukraine conflict, and climate change.
Ironically, von der Leyen framed the remarks as a campaign promise as if she’s actually running for reelection by popular vote, but in reality she was handpicked by European Parliament delegates in a secret ballot in March for the EU elections in June, where she is all but guaranteed to secure another 5-year term as EU Commission President.
Europe must be able to defend itself – against all kinds of attacks.
I will propose a European Democracy Shield.
🛡️To detect disinformation and malign interference
🛡️To remove content, including AI deepfakes
🛡️To make our societies more resilient pic.twitter.com/d455YyWUib
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen_epp) May 20, 2024
“And this is why – if I am re-elected as President, the Commission will put forward a European Democracy Shield as one of the key priorities of the next Commission. This should be an ambitious European project that focuses on the biggest threats from foreign interference and manipulation,” she said.
Recall von der Leyen declared at Davos in January that “misinformation and disinformation” — information they cannot control — represent greater threats to the world than war and economic downturns.
The EU’s war against information it deems undesirable reached a new phase after Elon Musk bought Twitter, now X, in 2022 and reintroduced online free speech.
The EU in turn opened an investigation into X and threatened to shut it down unless it took harsh measures to counter “disinformation” and comply with the EU’s DSA [Digital Services Act].
EU Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova last week celebrated the bloc’s “fact-checking” measures, saying they’re successfully reeducating the public and prompting them to self-censor ahead of next month’s EU elections.
“We believe our fact-checking is already influencing user behavior. We see that when people realize something is wrong with the material, they often refrain from sharing it with friends on social media,” she said.
Meanwhile, the EU last week also deployed “Hybrid Rapid Response Teams” to counter “disinformation” throughout the 27 member countries.
Watch von der Leyen’s full speech:
