Statement on the situation between facebook and the Australian government

Andreas Wiebe, CEO Swisscows AG, operator of the European search engine Swisscows and the data-secure messenger TeleGuard, commenting the situation between facebook and the Australian government:

"The current conflict between facebook and the Australian government shows once again that American high-tech companies increasingly have too much influence and in this specific case even become a threat to the self-determination of a government. By cutting off access to news and public information, facebook wants to demonstrate its power, but in doing so it shows weakness and a lack of respect for a country's legislation and economy. Instead of engaging in discussion, it is simply shutting down."

"Every country should therefore also face up to the question of how to deal with these tech giants again. Instead of a trial of strength, the most important step would be to make our society and economy independent of them and to develop our own solutions. Now is the time to show self-confidence and use solutions that correspond to our self-image of respect for legislation, the economy and data protection. We cannot trust global tech companies to do this for us."

"We helped build this system. Now it has become a monster. Now is the time to show self-confidence and build our own solutions. We have the competence and the know-how. We already have appropriate solutions. Now it is up to us to use them."