Prague, Oct 16 (CTK) – The firms spreading media content on the Internet, such as Google and Facebook, must follow the same rules as other media outlets, pay taxes in the country they operate and respect copyright, Czech Deputy PM for Science, Research and Innovations Pavel Belobradek told reporters on Monday.
EU joint rules should secure this, he added.
The respective Czech ministers should push for the introduction of new rules at meetings of the European Council and the prime minister might also submit the issue at a European summit, Belobradek (junior government Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) said.
He also mentioned the possibility to initiate a discussion on the issue in the European Parliament (EP) where Czech MPs might be pushing it through within their groups.
Expert in Internet media Daniel Docekal called Belobradek’s words a mere “pre-election proclamation.”
“It is a pity that Pavel Belobradek was not pushing for these views at the time when the Association for Internet Development (SPIR) was talking about this. If anyone is not paying taxes in the Czech Republic, the EU will definitely not help, but we should solve this at home. This global problem does not concern Google and Facebook only, all big market players are optimising taxes,” Dolezal said.
However, neither Facebook nor Google are subject to Czech or EU law, he added.
“Equal conditions must apply to all players on the media market, which is not the case now, and there is a threat of the monopoly of Internet giants,” Belobradek said.
Internet firms need not observe the Czech press law, need not pay taxes in the Czech Republic and they do not face a legal punishment for publishing a libel either, he said.
“They violate copyright, are seeking and releasing news that someone has created [fabricated] or that they take over from other media outlets without paying them for it,” Belobradek said.
The unequal position of traditional media and Internet giants threatens democracy that cannot work without free media, he said.
“It is clear to us that the society where lie started overcoming the truth is not free and that during elections, people do not decide on the basis of true and complete information, but on the contrary, the may succumb to fear and manipulations,” he told reporters.
The media market is working well, equal conditions are applied there and the Internet giants have definitely no monopoly in the media sphere, Docekal said.
“Neither Google nor Facebook are violating copyright. Pavel Belobradek has untrue information, unfortunately. As far as taxes, sanctions for libels and the observance of the Czech press law are concerned, we should look at France that has no problem to bring Google and other to court and to account,” he added.
The issues of media owners and tolerance of “mendacious media,” manipulations and Russian propaganda are rather a threat in the Czech Republic, he pointed out.
Belobradek called for just conditions on the media market.
He said it would be the most suitable for these rules to be pushed through on European level.
If only national legislations exist, they need not be binding on other countries and the rules may be circumvented, he said.
Belobradek pointed out that the whole EU would have a stronger position in the talks with Internet firms than particular countries.
