EU lawmakers slam new border force powers to surveil social media

BRUSSELS — New powers proposed for the EU's border police Frontex to monitor social media pose a threat to free speech, European lawmakers and civil society groups have told POLITICO. The EU Commission's proposal Tuesday for a major revamp of the coast and border patrol agency included a broad and explicit mandate to monitor social media for information that aids or encourages illegal border crossings into the European Union. Social democratic Italian lawmaker Brando Benifei told POLITICO it was "legitimate" for authorities to remove online advertisements for human smuggling: "But a broad social media surveillance mandate goes much further, placing online speech under a border agency’s watch.