Alvise backs EU chat control, unsettling the right

Alvise backs chat control: the right tangles itself in contradictions

The vote on chat control in the European Parliament has left a paradox that unsettles much of the Spanish right. MEP Alvise Pérez, who presents himself as the antidote to the establishment, reportedly supported the regulation that allows mass surveillance of communications. A turn that, according to analyses, leaves his voters with the same sense of betrayal they attribute to the PP and PSOE.

Who voted for what?
The so-called chat control – a regulation that obliges platforms to scan private messages for illegal content – has confronted the different sensibilities of the right. While Vox was frontally opposed, critical sectors point out that both the PP and PSOE would have supported the measure. But the surprise came when Alvise's party, Se Acabó la Fiesta, aligned itself with the yes vote. A decision that, in the words of some analysts, places it in the same category as the regime's parties.

The contradictions of the discourse
The scant coherence between the anti-proge discourse and political practice is the target of criticism. It is recalled that a good part of the alternative right's voters daily use products and services from companies they label as "proge", from operating systems to social networks. Voting in favor of chat control, a measure that expands these corporations' ability to spy, would be the icing on the cake. Some argue that Alvise has done the same as others he criticized: promise one thing and do the opposite.

The debate remains open. Is chat control a concession to the surveillance state or a necessary tool against pedophilia? What is clear is that, for his critics, Alvise has broken the last bastion of trust. The question floating is whether his voters will keep him or if, as hinted, voting for him is exactly the same as voting for PP or PSOE.