Heger Denies Intervening in Deletion of Social Media Posts

Bratislava, 19 November (TASR) - Vice-chair of the extra-parliamentary Democrats party and former prime minister Eduard Heger said that neither he nor the ministers of his government intervened in the deletion of social media posts, TASR reported on Wednesday. Heger responded to claims that state or public institutions allegedly asked Meta to delete certain posts from its social network between 2022 and 2023. "Our government trusted experts, as opposed to the incumbent government, which has dismissed almost all experts from its ministries. That trust also meant enabling them to take steps that they deemed appropriate," said Heger. He added that these experts assessed individual risks and, when addressing situations or comments that threatened people's health, lives or safety, they communicated with Meta or other platforms to request the removal of aggressive comments that undermined what is guaranteed in Slovakia's Constitution. However, Heger emphasised that neither he nor his ministers intervened in this process. "That's what trust between politicians and experts in civil service is about," he added, pointing out that those assessing the risks were qualified professionals with many years of experience. Interior Minister Sutaj Estok claimed on Tuesday (18 November) that state and public institutions were misused by governments in the years 2022 and 2023 to manipulate public opinion. He referred to an article published by the marker.sk website, according to which some institutions allegedly asked Meta to delete certain posts on its social network. jrg/df