Tech mogul Elon Musk was reminded that Brussels is determined to seek compliance with the rules of content moderation that are in force in the European Union and that violations of which may entail billions in fines.
EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said on Tuesday that Musk should understand that the major social network is subject to EU requirements for moderating illegal and harmful content on the Internet, assembled in the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA).
“Whether on online harassment, the sale of counterfeit products... child pornography, or calls for acts of terrorism... Twitter will have to adapt to our European regulations which do not exist in the United States,” he told AFP.
Breton played a key role in negotiating the new legislation that had been discussed for over a year and was agreed upon by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament last week.
The DSA is expected to come into force in the EU in 2024 to provide more strict rules for moderating certain content, obliging networks with over 45 million users to submit annual reports to regulators about illegal and malicious content on their sites and open their algorithms to security agencies.
“We are open to everyone, but on our own terms,” Breton told in an interview to Financial Times. “Elon, there are rules. You are welcome, but these are our rules. It's not your rules which will apply here.”
The European Commissioner noted that his comment should be seen as a “test in practice” for Musk since the billionaire proposed a number of changes to Twitter, including softer content moderation. Breton stressed that Twitter must comply with EU rules or face huge fines of up to six percent of the company’s revenue or even a ban in Europe.
The commissioner also tweeted on Tuesday that Musk “knows well” that “be it cars or social media, any company operating in Europe needs to comply” with these rules and “will quickly adapt to the Digital Services Act.”
Elon Musk is set to become the sole owner of Twitter by buying a 100 percent stake for $44 billion. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year, on condition of shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other requirements.
The tech billionaire has long criticized Twitter's approach to handling controversial content. He earlier tweeted that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy” and posted a poll asking his followers to answer whether the social network should follow that principle. He later wrote that Twitter was the “digital town square” and that the company's lack of freedom of speech is fundamentally undermining democracy.