Charles Macmillan

Working on text and data mining at @EU_Commission @EU_ScienceHub. Personal account, my own opinions.

[Philine Widmer @phinifa]

Can feed algorithms shape what people think about politics? Our paper "The Political Effects of X's Feed Algorithm" is out today in @Nature and answers "Yes".

https://t.co/2h4NgHZSmb

[Damian Low @DamianLow3]

The level of personal hostility directed at Keir Starmer over the last week deserves scrutiny in its own right. Not because he should be immune from criticism, but because the tone and intensity of the attacks tell us something unhealthy about the state of democratic politics.

1. Starmer is a conventional political figure. Cautious, legalistic, incremental. He frustrates people precisely because he is managerial rather than messianic. Yet the reaction to him often goes far beyond disagreement, tipping into visceral hatred more commonly reserved for authoritarians or demagogues.

2. Much of this hostility is disconnected from concrete policy. It is not about specific votes, proposals or outcomes, but about projection. A belief that Starmer embodies betrayal, bad faith or hidden malice. That kind of politics runs on suspicion rather than evidence.

3. This matters because democracy depends on the assumption of good faith among opponents. You can think a leader is wrong, timid, or misguided without believing they are fundamentally illegitimate. Once politics becomes moralised to the point of demonisation, compromise is reframed as treachery and pluralism as weakness.

4. The pattern is familiar. In fragmented, polarised systems, anger concentrates not on extremists, whose intentions are clear, but on moderates, who disappoint maximalists on all sides. The centre becomes the lightning rod precisely because it resists totalising narratives.

5. There is also a media and online dynamic at work. Incentives reward outrage, not proportionality. Algorithms favour contempt over analysis. Over time, this creates a political culture in which relentless personal attack feels normal, even virtuous, rather than disgusting.

6. None of this is a defence of Starmer’s decisions, instincts or record. Those should be argued over robustly as you do in a democracy. The problem is the substitution of critique with hostility and the quiet erosion of democratic norms that follows when political opponents are treated as enemies rather than rivals.

7. A democracy cannot function if every election is framed as an existential struggle against internal evil. At some point, the target may change, but the damage to trust, restraint and culture remains.

[French Response @FrenchResponse]

Investigating child sexual abuse material isn’t controversial.
Turning it into political theater is manipulation.
Maybe that logic flies on some island. Doesn’t fly in France.

[Clash Report @clashreport]

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez:

Starting next week, my government will implement the following actions:

First, we will change the law in Spain to hold platform executives legally accountable for many infringements taking place on their sites.

Second, we will turn algorithmic manipulation and amplification of illegal content into a new criminal offense.

Third, we will implement a hate and polarization footprint system to track, quantify, and expose how digital platforms fuel division and amplify hate.

Fourth, Spain will ban access to social media for minors under the age of 16. Platforms will be required to implement effective age verification systems — not just checkboxes, but real barriers that work.

Fifth and last, my government will work with our public prosecutor to investigate and pursue the infringement committed by Grok, TikTok, and Instagram.

[European Commission @EU_Commission]

"We are very well aware of the fact that X for Grok is now offering a spicy mode showing explicit sexual content with some output generated with childlike images.

This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting.

I can confirm we are very seriously looking into this matter."

— Spokesperson Thomas Regnier

[Tatarigami_UA @Tatarigami_UA]

@eeldenden That is the whole point people keep missing: there should be soldiers there to begin with, and in decent numbers, unless you are willing to end up in a situation where they are blocked in a few buildings, as it was in Crimea.

[Donald Tusk @donaldtusk]

No-one will take seriously a weak and divided Europe: neither enemy nor ally. It is already clear now. We must finally believe in our own strength, we must continue to arm ourselves, we must stay united like never before. One for all, and all for one. Otherwise, we are finished.

[EU Home Affairs @EUHomeAffairs]

Apply for #EUfunding!

➡️ @EU_Commission provides EUR 15 million to support critical entities' resilience against threats, including terrorist attacks, sabotage, natural hazards and public health emergencies.

🔗 Find out more: https://t.co/uqh4sVkq7r
#SecurityEU

[Mark English @EULondonMark]

Badenoch and Hannan are not right, a customs union would allow UK businesses to escape some complex and costly procedures. But the far bigger economic prize is the single market, which would get rid of almost all the Brexit red tape mountain and cut the cost of living, too.

[Aleksandar Djokic (Александар Джокич) @polidemitolog]

Poland urged the European Commission to investigate TikTok over mass AI-generated content in Polish urging the country's EU exit, potentially a coordinated Russian disinformation campaign, according to Deputy Digitalization Minister Dariusz Standerski's letter highlighting threats to public order and democratic processes. Government spokesman Adam Szlapka called it fully aligned with Russian interests, noting Russian syntactic structures in videos featuring young women promoting ultra-right messages.

[Orla Joelsen @OJoelsen]

Premier of Greenland 🇬🇱 statement this morning;

This morning, I am both saddened and grateful 🇬🇱

Saddened, because during a press conference last night, the President of the United States once again expressed a desire to take over Greenland. With such statements, our country is reduced to a question of security and power. That is not how we see ourselves, and it is not how Greenland can or should be spoken about.

We are a people with a long history, a strong culture, and a vibrant democracy. We are a country with responsibility for our own territory and for our own future. Our territorial integrity and our right to self-determination are firmly anchored in international law and cannot simply be ignored.

That is also why I am grateful.

Thank you to everyone here at home for the clear support and unity that has been shown. The calmness and dignity with which you have met this situation send a strong signal of a people who stand firm in their values and in their responsibility.

I would also like to thank heads of government and partners around the world who have clearly and unequivocally expressed their respect for Greenland, for our democratic institutions, and for the fundamental principles of international law. That support confirms that we here at home do not stand alone.

Once again: Greenland is our country. Decisions are made here. And I will at all times fight for our freedom and our right to decide for ourselves and to shape our own future.

For now, I hope that the peace of Christmas can settle over us all.
Merry Christmas 🇬🇱💙🇬🇱

[Jean-Noël Barrot @jnbarrot]

La France dénonce avec la plus grande fermeté la restriction de visa prise par les Etats-Unis à l'encontre de Thierry Breton, ancien ministre et Commissaire européen, et quatre autres personnalités européennes.

Le règlement sur les services numériques (DSA) a été démocratiquement adopté en Europe pour que ce qui est illégal hors ligne le soit aussi en ligne. Il n'a absolument aucune portée extraterritoriale et ne concerne en aucun cas les Etats-Unis.

Les peuples de l'Europe sont libres et souverains et ne sauraient se faire imposer par d'autres les règles s'appliquant à leur espace numérique.

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

So, today @tedtalks announced that my TED talk ‘This is What a Digital Coup Looks Like’ was their most watched talk of the year.

It’s sort of amazing & terrifying.

Because this *is* what a digital coup looks like.

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

Russia does not want to end the war, and the Trump administration has shown no ability to induce Russia to end the war. And so, predictably, the Trump administration blames the victim, blames Ukraine.

[Jim Acosta @Acosta]

Trump team chooses Russian state media over the American free press. This is not us.

[John Bolton @AmbJohnBolton]

Trump has put the US on the wrong side of the Russia-Ukraine war and it's shameful.  He is every day making it more and more difficult to pull the West back together.  After his term, the U.S. will need to convince our allies that we are dependable and still a nation of normal people. https://t.co/AHK2Wqza5H

[David Axelrod @davidaxelrod]

I love my country with all my heart and I've never been more embarrassed for America than the spectacle I just witnessed in the Oval Office.
Zelensky is fighting for the survival of his country, his people and their democracy.
Trump and Vance appear to be completely aligned with Putin, the invader whose aim has been to conquer Ukraine.
Zelensky should know that millions and millions of Americans still stand with him and his valiant people.

[U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen @RepPettersen]

I’m horrified by the way President Zelensky was treated by Trump and Vance in their Oval Office meeting today. Once again, Ukraine is a democratic ally that was invaded by Russia.

It is stunning that the US is now siding with dictators and not standing up for freedom, democracy, and global stability. I’m deeply concerned for the people in Ukraine and our country’s long-term national security.

[Senator Adam Schiff @SenAdamSchiff]

A hero and a coward are meeting in the Oval Office today.

And when the meeting is over, the hero will return home to Ukraine.