The European Commission warns Elon Musk that the company must respect digital content laws or face huge sanctions
Twitter must respect the new European law on content control. This was demanded by Elon Musk’s European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, at a telematics meeting the two held this Wednesday, in which Brussels expressed concern that the company has “sufficient human resources” to comply. the regulations.
“Twitter will need to strengthen content moderation, protect free speech, and address misinformation (…). All this requires sufficient artificial intelligence and human resources,” Breton stressed. The warning from Brussels comes shortly after Musk made mass layoffs and closed several of the company’s offices.
The new European law on digital services makes the major platforms -Facebook, Google, Twitter…- responsible for the content published on them. The regulation aims to create a friendlier environment for users and protect their fundamental rights, by establishing that what is illegal outside the network is also illegal on the internet. It also imposes fines on a range of sanctions for those who break the law, up to 6% of the company’s global sales. In the case of Twitter, the amount to be paid would exceed 300 million euros. “In Europe, the bird will fly with our European rules,” Breton warned.
In his short time in charge of the social network, Musk has declared a “general amnesty” and announced that he will reinstate users who spread disinformation and hate messages who have not broken the law. Shortly afterwards, he stated that Twitter will create a “content moderation board with very different viewpoints.” It remains to be seen whether the changes proposed by the magnate will please the European Commission. Breton and Musk agreed that the community agency could conduct a stress test on the company in early 2023. This means that Twitter complies with the new European standard.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
