Changes in Twitter herald confrontation with Europe

Self-proclaimed free-speech champion Elon Musk’s unrestricted new version of Twitter could run afoul of new rules in Europe, where authorities warn the social network will have to abide by some of the world’s toughest laws against toxic content.

While the new digital standards will likely put Europe Leading the crackdown on the platform that Musk envisions, the 27-nation bloc will have its own problems forcing Twitter and other internet companies to comply. The law only enters fully into force in 2024 and the authorities of the EU they seek to get enough employees to hold big tech companies to account.

The broad set of standards known as the Digital Services Law seeks to hold search engines and platforms more accountable for hate speech, scams, misinformation, and other illegal and harmful content. They will come into force in mid-2023 for the largest companies such as Google, Facebook and TikTok and will be extended to all digital services the following year.

Those rules will clash with the changes it introduced Musk in Twitter. This week he abruptly fired a group of advisers dealing with issues such as hate speech, child exploitation and self-harm, cut staff in half and issued conflicting decisions on content moderation.

“There may be a lot of changes in six months, but it seems certain that Twitter will be the first big test for Europe in terms of the application of the Digital Services Law”said John Albert of AlgorithmWatch, a Berlin-based research and advocacy NGO.

Musk promotes the “freedom of expression, not freedom of scope”, and says he wants to cut down on hate and negative messages. Tesla’s billionaire CEO views the block rules as a “sensible concept to apply globally”said the EU’s digital policy chief, Thierry Breton, after a video call with Musk days ago.

Other jurisdictions lag far behind Europe. In the United States, Silicon Valley lobbyists have largely succeeded in holding off federal lawmakers, who are politically divided on competition, online privacy, misinformation and other issues. Britain is drawing up its own Online Security Lawbut it has been watered down and it is not known when it will be approved.

Source: Associated Press