Alessandra Mussolini’s complaint: “I can’t use my name on Instagram”

BRUSSELS. A new social channel, where you can spread messages and advertise your work and your activity as a European Parliamentarian. Too bad you can’t create an account, for a surname that would be in violation of internal rules. Alessandra Mussolini thus recounts her personal misadventure, which becomes a battle. The exponent of Forza Italia and the EPP clashes with Instagram and goes on the attack, so much so that he presents a question to the European Commission to ask for clarification.

For her, registering on online platforms “is essential for carrying out political and communication action”, she explains in the note accompanying the question. You tried to register with your personal data, i.e. name and surname, but you, you report, “I was prevented from creating an account with the name of Alessandra Mussolini”. The reason? It seems “it appears to violate the community policies”. Unacceptable, for the member of the International Trade Commission of the EU Parliament. It is a “violation of my rights on the Meta social platforms”, the company that owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. On the latter platform, the impossibility of registering represents, for Mussolini, a “prejudice” which translates into “an unjustified violence which damages my most fundamental rights of personal freedom and expression”.

From these premises the appeal to the European Commission, filed with a request for a priority written response. There is no precise addressee, given that a single member replies to questions for the Community executive on behalf of the entire college. For President Ursula von der Leyen and her commissioners, Mussolini first asks for a summary of the measures taken so far to monitor and address limitations and violations of fundamental freedoms on online platforms, to then know what measures the Commission intends to take to ensure that social media platforms respect your fundamental rights, including freedom of expression.

All answers will have to wait a bit. For a parliamentary question, the Commission can take up to 60 days to provide an answer, in the specific case, since it is a priority request, the terms are halved. It means that the case of Alessandra Mussolini will have to be followed up within a maximum of 30 days.

Alessandra Mussolini is in her third mandate as a European parliamentarian. Former MEP in the sixth and eighth legislatures (2004-2008 and 2014-2019), the current term began on 2 November 2022. Not elected in the May 2019 elections, Mussolini took over from Antonio Tajani after the latter’s election in the Chamber of Deputies.