Text by Elisenda Rovira, Spain, and Edmund Heaphy, Ireland
Trolls and bringing Tinder to politics were just some of the things discussed across European Youth Event 2016 panels that focused on ways to increase political engagement in the European Union.
The idea that the internet and social media really could change politics emerged during the 2008 US Presidential elections, which ushered Barack Obama into office, said Dr Sanne Kruikemeier, an Assistant Professor in Amsterdam University.
Asked by a participant about increasing the EU’s engagement on social media and the effect of trolls on the discourse, Jaume Duch, the European Parliament’s Spokesman and Director for Media said that they had asked the White House’s social media director for advice – and it comes down to careful moderation.
“The verbal style is getting worse and worse,” Heinz Becker, member of the European Parliament, said. He added that internet trolls are the reason why more and more politicians give up on participating in online debates. For Kruikemeier, though, this is not the main issue.
Promoting participation and democracy in social media
New technological solutions offer new ways to include the people into governing process. At a panel, the idea of a new app called “iVoice” was presented. Emulating the dating app Tinder, the application would allow people to “like” or “dislike” the members of the European Parliament or vote on other people’s ideas.
Similar Tinder-style projects have already been tried out in other EU countries. For example, bite the Ballot’s “Verto”, which took centre stage during the recent London mayoral elections, was called out by Obama as something that would help to create a generation of “change agents”.
Similarly, “Smart Vote” was used by tens of thousands of Irish voters to decide their preferences in the country’s general election. The “iVoice” is, for now, just an idea by Benjamin Bodson, one of the session’s young “idea givers”. But this teaching and research assistant in EU Law at the Catholic University of Lovaine in Brussels does not think technology is the only way to increase the participation of young people.
Mariam Inayat, a former member of the UK Youth Parliament, pointed out the timely question in the European Parliament, namely the increasing diversity. “We need more MEPs from minority groups. The United States have a black president. Do we want to go behind the country that gave us Donald Trump?” she asked.
