The State of the Union 2026

The State of the Union (SOTEU) address is an annual speech by Ursula von der Leyen, the current President of the European Commission to the European Parliament. During her speech von der Leyen will share her vision and the major projects in the European Union for the upcoming year. Moreover, her speech will indirectly make clear where her priorities lie for the year ahead.

In other words, this is her unique chance to finally put the fight against Big Tech on her agenda.

A chance that should have already been taken a long time ago. Because if we let Big Tech continue as it has been, the future could look quite bleak and dystopian.

Big Tech dominates our digital communication

There is no doubt about it: Big Tech dominates our digital communication. For most of us, a life without Instagram (to share our holiday pictures), WhatsApp (to stay in touch with our loved ones) or TikTok (to kill some time with watching funny videos) is unimaginable.

What we may have known already anyways, has the EU Social Media Monitor put in writing: Big Tech reaches everyone inside the European Union and seems to have become an indispensable part in our daily lives. To put it in numbers, YouTube alone reaches more than 460 million people in the EU each month and Instagram almost 300 million people. In other words, Big Tech has an enormous reach, and with that reach comes an enormous power.

Also, didn’t a famous superhero remind us that with great power comes great responsibility?

A responsibility, Big Tech platforms conveniently seem to forget they bear towards their users.

Related: Big Tech’s business model is based upon gathering as much data from its users as possible - for maximizing its own profit.

From traditional news outlets to social media

The responsibility Big Tech platforms have has only increased in recent years and will most likely continue to do so. Because, as the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 confirms, the news consumption is changing in favour of video networks, social media and, more recently, AI. Especially among the younger generations, social media and video networks are more favoured than TV or news websites as the primary sources of news consumption. Seeing that people prefer watching news over reading them as it is much more convenient.

As a consequence, the use of traditional news sources such as TV, radio or newspapers, continues to decline. The year 2026 thereby represents a significant milestone, as for the first time video networks and social media are globally the most widely used news source. What this shows us is the following: People consume their news and form their opinions not through newspapers or television anymore but through social media. A social media that is not neutral.

Big Tech influences who we vote for

As mentioned before, Big Tech platforms – especially the social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X and their algorithm-based feeds – influence our behaviour. They determine our attention: What we see, what we think and eventually who we vote for. As dystopian and scary as this may sounds, it has, unfortunately, already become reality. Several studies have proven that Meta, TikTok and X have a significant influence on our elections. Elections that are supposed to be free and fair.

For example, one study proved that the default feed of X showed more far-right content than from any other political parties. Moreover, the platform’s owner Elon Musk is among one of the most appearing users on the X-feed. A coincidence?

The study “Political Biases on X before the 2025 German Federal Election” shows clearly how the For You feed on X is dominated by the AfD – a far-right party that is openly favorited by X-owner Elon Musk.

The study “Political Biases on X before the 2025 German Federal Election” is not the only example. Lots of studies have shown how Big Tech platforms favors extremist voices, enabling extremist parties to win votes that otherwise they might not win. When looking at these data, one can’t seriously claim that Big Tech algorithms do not influence voters’ decision, like for instance in Saxony-Anhalt last week.

And Big Tech owners like Elon Musk do not even hide their intentions. After the AfD won the election in Saxony-Anhalt, Musk congratulated them openly on X:

Musk to Alice Weidel on X: “Gut gemacht!”

So the influence of social media has serious and measurable consequences in our real life.

Because if we are presented with biased content on social media, the medium we increasingly use to consume our news, and these news are presented as representative, it can be deceiving and influence the public discourse and eventually and most importantly where we will cast our vote in the next election.

Act now!

Therefore, the non-profit organization Save Social urges Ursula von der Leyen, as the President of the European Commission, to act now to make social media secure and non-addictive for everoyne. Not just kids and teenagers. This is a unique chance to catch two flies in one: By making social media safe for everyone, we can also finally end the tedious discussion about age verification – a plan that is as useless as it is unpopular.

It is finally time to hold Big Tech accountable.

Because if the European Union does not hold it accountable, the consequences could be catastrophic. Not only for us as users, but also for us as citizens in a democracy.

Germany also needs to act

From September 16 until September 18, the Federal States of Germany also have the opportunity to change Big Tech for the better as the heads of the state chancelleries will meet. Among others, the media policy is on the agenda as well as the negotiation of the State Treaty on Digital Media. A unique opportunity for Big Tech to be held accountable, at least in Germany.

Final words

In a time, where social media and video platforms increasingly replace traditional news outlets, the responsibility must not be in the hands of a few very powerful CEO’s of Big Tech companies.

Social media platforms, as tools of our digital communication, have a responsibility to enable a free and fair opinion making in order for our democracy to continue to survive.

Ursula, your time to act is now. For the sake of democracy.