Musk cut staff in half and issued conflicting decisions about content moderation. Photo: Reuters.
The new, unfettered version of Twitter promoted by billionaire Elon Musk may find its way under new rules for the digital environment in Europe, whose authorities have warned that the social network will have to comply with some of the world’s strictest laws against toxic substances. Content.
While the new digital rules are likely to put Europe in the lead in controlling the platform Musk envisions, the 27-nation bloc will have its own problems in forcing Twitter and other internet companies to comply with them.
The law will not take full effect until 2024 and EU authorities are looking to get enough staff to hold big tech companies to account.
The broad set of rules known as the Digital Services Act It seeks to hold social platforms and search engines more responsible for the hate speech, hoaxes, misinformation, and other illegal and harmful content that finds space there.
In mid-2023, it will come into effect for the largest companies such as Google, Facebook and TikTok, and in 2024 it will be expanded to all digital services.
These rules will conflict with the changes Musk has made to Twitter.
This week, it abruptly fired a group of advisers dealing with issues such as hate speech, child exploitation and self-harm, cut staff in half and made conflicting decisions about content moderation.
said John Albert of AlgorithmWatch, a Berlin-based NGO dedicated to digital services, investigation and rights advocacy.
Musk promotes “freedom of speech, not freedom of access,” and says he wants to limit hate mail and negative messages. The European Union’s head of digital policy, Thierry Breton, said after a video call with Musk a few days ago that the billionaire CEO of Tesla sees block rules as “a reasonable concept to apply globally.”
Other jurisdictions lag far behind Europe.
In the US, Silicon Valley lobbyists have largely succeeded in alienating federal lawmakers, who are politically divided on competition, online privacy, disinformation, and other issues. Britain is drafting its own online safety law, but it has been watered down and it is not known when it will be passed.
(with information from the AP)
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