Claudiu-Richard Târziu, ECR Member of the European Parliament, drew attention — in a speech delivered in the plenary of the European Parliament — to the risks associated with the “European Shield for Democracy” and the mechanism of the so-called “fact-checkers.”
“We are facing an instrument of ideological control and political censorship,” Târziu stated, emphasizing that protection against disinformation is often used as a pretext to “establish a network of informers funded with public money, granted a privileged status to stigmatize and cancel any critical discourse that challenges the official line.”
According to the MEP, in Romania this role is already assigned to certain organizations and institutions that “become de facto prosecutors of public discourse, with the power to swiftly remove inconvenient content from any online platform.”
Târziu warned that the system “blatantly violates the right to free expression” and underlined that “democracy is defended through debate, not through imposed silence.”
Addressing those who do not perceive the danger, Târziu said:
“Study the history of communism, and you will find there the true face of ideological fanaticism — of a utopia that promised the perfect society but turned half a continent into a concentration camp for millions of people.”
