Financial Associated Press, October 29 (Editor Xia Junxiong)On Friday (October 28), EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton issued a warning to the world‘s richest man, Elon Musk. Breton hinted that Musk must play by the rules after completing the acquisition of social media platform Twitter.
After a six-month entanglement, Musk finally completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter on Friday and will take over as CEO himself. To that end, he tweeted: “The bird is finally free.” Note: The Twitter logo is a little blue bird.
Breton then responded to the tweet on Twitter, saying: “In Europe, birds will fly by our rules.”
Under the EU’s recently passed Digital Services Act, big tech companies must have robust content moderation systems in place to ensure they can quickly remove illegal content such as hate speech and terrorism.
This clashes with Musk, who has previously advertised himself as advocating absolute freedom of speech and expressed his desire to make Twitter a digital city square with fewer restrictions on user speech. There are media reports that Musk intends to lift the permanent ban on users. Regulators are concerned that Musk may allow former U.S. President Donald Trump to return to Twitter.
It is worth mentioning that in May of this year, Musk and Breton met, and Musk said at the time that the Digital Services Act was completely in line with his ideas.
“The need for rules and accountability is greater than ever,” MEP Guy Verhofstadt said on Friday. Verhofstadt noted that Musk now owns one of the largest social media platforms in the world, and the ego on social media Regulation never worked. The implication is that social media platforms must have strong content moderation mechanisms.
The EU rules are expected to come into effect in 2024, and companies that violate the rules could face fines equal to 6% of annual global revenue.