Tweets of the Week: Pandora Papers, Facebook Down, Brdo Summit

Pandora Papers revelations hit their mark, world panics as Facebook goes dark, and not much happened in Brdo apart from the snark.

Another week, another leak… or to be more precise a massive investigation by international journalists to discover the inner workings of a shadow economy that benefits the wealthy and well-connected at the expense of everyone else.

Yes indeed the Pandora Papers were front page news and MEP Assistant reckons politicians were heartbroken that something like this could even happen.

The news was particularly bad for Czech PM Andrej Babiš as his secret wealth was revealed just five days before the Czech parliamentary elections, reported Aneta Zachová. Of course, Babiš denied any wrongdoing and blamed the Czech mafia for the offshore data leak.

I have never done anything illegal or wrong, but that does not prevent them from trying to denigrate me again and influence the Czech parliamentary elections, he tweeted.

Martini Seltzermayr suggested his new election slogan should be Yes, We Cannes!

After it was revealed he moved $22 million through offshore companies to buy a lavish estate in France.

 

This week we are supported by the  Coppieters Foundation, a think tank focusing on European affairs. Next week their Coppieters Awards ceremony will honour Jill Rhondda and Nelly Maes. Stay tuned using the hashtag #CoppietersAwards21!

It’s worth noting that the Pandora Papers were overshadowed by another event this week…

Yup, the world came crashing to a halt as Facebook and its associated services went dark for several hours.

With #FacebookDown trending on Twitter, Max Schrems – the man who took on the social network over privacy violations – snarked: “Hey, for the first time in years they seem to be #GDPR compliant. I think there would be less extreme ways to do it, but won’t complain.”

Commission VP Margrethe Vestager said the outage tells us two things: 1, we need alternatives & choices in the #tech market, and must not rely on a few big players. And 2 that sometimes, there’s nothing better than talking to each other.

As if #facebookdown wasn’t bad enough for @Facebook. Now they receive unwelcome attention of Vestager on top of it, pointed out Miika Blinn.

Even Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton, weighed in: In the global digital space, everyone could experience a shutdown. Europeans deserve a better digital resilience, which he described as a work in progress.

Watch this space.

 

Finally this week, it was news, but not as we know it as All 27 EU leaders gathered in Brdo to discuss enlargement and…. Nothing happened. It rained apparently.

 

Whoever’s in charge of the weather in Brdo did a great job – perfect atmosphere for this pointless summit moaned Toby Vogel.

Is Summit fatigue a recognized clinical condition, and when will journalists get health coverage for it? Asked Una Hajdari.

Markus Preiss quoted a colleague:

 “Like Woodstock. Just without sex and rock’n’roll.”

Strategic autonomy is great, an umbrella is greater added Diego Velazquez.

Even Le Chou was left to imagine bizarre Squid Game scenarios…

No, me neither… maybe it was a bit of a damp Squib Game?

 

Finally, Tanja Milevska envies people who associate the word enlargement with penis size and not the EU.

You and me both!