Digital Law: Trump: digital technology and the clash of civilizations

Jorge F. Negrete P.

“Every civilization considers itself the center of the world and writes its history as the central drama of human history.” Samuel P. Huntington.

Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States marks the inflection that was needed in this world of authoritarianism. The American response is in the digital world.

Authoritarianism from right and left comes with only one capability: to take any conversation to the extreme. It is not a conversation of nuance, but of light and shadow. They have an urgency for results and little patience for debate.

In the digital world, the focus of the debate is on the exercise of human and political rights in this ecosystem. But what if the local debate is extended to the world, what human rights prevail, and does freedom of expression apply according to European, North American or Latin American values?

The word “human rights” has become like the word democracy, a polysemic concept that is interpreted differently in all geographies and times.

Europe. It regulates the digital world and pursues Big Tech in taxation, freedom of expression, economic competition, consumer protection, personal data, digital rights, created a law on digital markets and services and now regulates Artificial Intelligence. Human rights are European-style. It has fined them billions of dollars. Ursula Von Der Leyen, president of the European Commission, on a trip to the USA, visited the CEOs of Big Tech and invited them to comply with the rigid and complex laws of Europe, and at the same time to invest. Big Tech feels the siege of Europe.

Entrepreneurs. The incorporation of entrepreneurs and powerful digital companies into the Trump administration speak of a joint vision, and this is the response to the various attacks they feel from the world. The first was Mark Zuckerberg, who announced, “The elimination of fact checkers, is going to regulate only illegal acts”, “We are going to work with President Trump, to push back against governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing for censorship”, “The United States has the strongest constitutional protections in the world for freedom of speech”. Contrario sensu, “Europe has the laws that institutionalize censorship and make it hard to build anything innovative there”, “We’re moving our trust, safety and content moderation teams out of California and our U.S. content review to Texas”, “we restore free speech on our platforms”.

President Trump mentioned a principle of scientific and technological superiority when he noted, “We put knowledge in the hands of humanity.” If Biden created the Science, Technology and Chips Act for AI and computational superiority, Trump announced that “we’re going to send our astronauts to plant an American flag on the surface of Mars.” The technology of the tiny and the technology of space. Science and technology as a tool of economic, geopolitical power and digital sovereignty. And it sends a message to the world: Eliminate the Executive Order on Safe, Reliable and Secure Development and Use of AI.

The superiority of U.S. legal values and human rights over the world were underscored when Trump noted that, “after years of illegal and unconstitutional efforts to restrict free speech, I will sign an Executive Order ending all forms of censorship, to restore free speech.” Zuckerberg moves Meta from California to Texas. This clash was pointed out by Dr. Arturo Oropeza regarding China supported by Huntington, but it is confirmed in Trump’s message, that the clash is spreading in the West: the clash of civilizations has begun and the subject of the debate is science, digital technology and human rights. 

President of Digital Policy & Law Group

X / @fernegretep

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