2024-08-14 11:11:26
The European Commission’s warning to Elon Musk about responsibility for disinformation on X (formerly Twitter) has escalated the conflict between Brussels and the American entrepreneur, increasing concerns in Europe about its ability to control the sprawling overseas platform.
As reported by Day.Az with reference to TASS, the Financial Times (FT) newspaper reported this.
The standoff between Musk and the bloc “has become a critical moment in the EU’s struggle” to deal with powerful online platforms, according to Georg Rickeles, deputy director of the European Policy Centre. “We are really on the threshold of an era of tough law enforcement in the information sphere,” he said. He also said Musk had shown “how technology can be used as a weapon.”
Earlier, the EC sent Elon Musk an official letter warning him of its readiness to punish X for insufficient diligence in removing “harmful content” in connection with the broadcast of an interview with US presidential candidate Donald Trump on X. After the publication of the letter, Musk compared its author – the European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton – to the character of the French mocker from the comedy film Monty Python.
At the same time, according to European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta, by sending a letter to Musk warning him of responsibility for disinformation on the X social network a few hours before the broadcast of the interview with Trump, the EC was not trying to interfere in the conduct of the elections in the United States. Podesta emphasized that the text of Breton’s letter to Musk “was not agreed upon with the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen or with the College of the European Commission.” The time of sending this letter was also not agreed upon with the leadership and services of the European Commission, she added.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported, citing sources in EU institutions, that the EU intends to impose a fine of 6% of its global profits on X by the end of the year for violating new European community standards for online content control. The agency noted that the EU authorities may make this decision as part of an ongoing investigation against the social network X for failure to comply with the requirements of the EU Digital Services Act, which obliges operators of Internet platforms to remove content marked as prohibited in the EU at the algorithmic level and without court decisions.
Subscribe to our WhatsApp channel and stay up to date with the latest news!