The EU (Twitter's biggest customer base) threatens to ban Twitter unless they abide by their laws (content moderation, etc)

[CaughtInThe]

Evidently they don't want people out there pushing Nazi propaganda and stuff.



"Breton told Musk he must adhere to a checklist of rules, including ditching an "arbitrary" approach to reinstating banned users and agreeing to an "extensive independent audit" of the platform by next year, according to the report.

...

Breton had previously urged Musk to comply with landmark EU rules against online hate speech and disinformation. The European Commission's justice chief Didier Reynders had also voiced similar comments."

EU warns Musk that Twitter faces ban over content moderation -FT

The European Union has threatened Elon Musk's Twitter with a ban unless the billionaire abides by its strict rules on content moderation, setting up a regulatory battle over the future of the social media platform, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

www.reuters.com

 

[CaughtInThe]

 

[Roadvirus]

The EU loves strictly regulating speech.

 

[Peacenik]

Evidently they don't want people out there pushing Nazi propaganda and stuff.



"Breton told Musk he must adhere to a checklist of rules, including ditching an "arbitrary" approach to reinstating banned users and agreeing to an "extensive independent audit" of the platform by next year, according to the report.

...

Breton had previously urged Musk to comply with landmark EU rules against online hate speech and disinformation. The European Commission's justice chief Didier Reynders had also voiced similar comments."

EU warns Musk that Twitter faces ban over content moderation -FT

The European Union has threatened Elon Musk's Twitter with a ban unless the billionaire abides by its strict rules on content moderation, setting up a regulatory battle over the future of the social media platform, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

www.reuters.com

Nice. I wish we could do that.

 

[Airyaman]

Well, the solution is Tesla Pi! It has Starlink! Now you can bypass the EU's watchdogs!

 

[daeler]

Evidently they don't want people out there pushing Nazi propaganda and stuff.



"Breton told Musk he must adhere to a checklist of rules, including ditching an "arbitrary" approach to reinstating banned users and agreeing to an "extensive independent audit" of the platform by next year, according to the report.

...

Breton had previously urged Musk to comply with landmark EU rules against online hate speech and disinformation. The European Commission's justice chief Didier Reynders had also voiced similar comments."

EU warns Musk that Twitter faces ban over content moderation -FT

The European Union has threatened Elon Musk's Twitter with a ban unless the billionaire abides by its strict rules on content moderation, setting up a regulatory battle over the future of the social media platform, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

www.reuters.com

While I dislike Musk, this seems a bit heavy handed. The government telling a Forum company who they can let talk on their site and what rules they have to abide by?

Free speech doesn't exist if that is legal.

 

[Rexedgar]

I wonder what the $44 billion is worth now?

 

[Rexedgar]

While I dislike Musk, this seems a bit heavy handed. The government telling a Forum company who they can let talk on their site and what rules they have to abide by?

Free speech doesn't exist if that is legal.

Where is “free speech” in the EU Constitution?


spoiler: they don’t have one.

 

[CaughtInThe]

While I dislike Musk, this seems a bit heavy handed. The government telling a Forum company who they can let talk on their site and what rules they have to abide by?

Free speech doesn't exist if that is legal.

two world wars make countries evolve differently.

 

[Slartibartfast]

While I dislike Musk, this seems a bit heavy handed. The government telling a Forum company who they can let talk on their site and what rules they have to abide by?

Free speech doesn't exist if that is legal.

Europe has a strong cultural memory of where this all leads from approx 80-90 years ago.

 

[JasperL]

Evidently they don't want people out there pushing Nazi propaganda and stuff.

"Breton told Musk he must adhere to a checklist of rules, including ditching an "arbitrary" approach to reinstating banned users and agreeing to an "extensive independent audit" of the platform by next year, according to the report.

Breton had previously urged Musk to comply with landmark EU rules against online hate speech and disinformation. The European Commission's justice chief Didier Reynders had also voiced similar comments."

EU warns Musk that Twitter faces ban over content moderation -FT

The European Union has threatened Elon Musk's Twitter with a ban unless the billionaire abides by its strict rules on content moderation, setting up a regulatory battle over the future of the social media platform, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

www.reuters.com

Yeah, I read many accounts of this during the early hectic weeks of the "Musk" transition. Apparently the guy paid no heed to people in Twitter pointing out that the 'moderation' choices they made were in many countries REQUIRED by law. Others were effectively imposed by advertisers. So he gutted the moderation teams anyway. We'll see how that works out for Twitter in the long run I guess.

What's a bit funny is Greenwald, cited by right wingers these days as a voice for 'free speech', favorably cited those EU politicians saying the government is the ones who should decide if someone like Trump should be banned. And now we have the 'free market' conservatives in favor of rules requiring 'social media' to be neutral to political content on their platform, so let government be the moderator, just like the 1A says....oh wait! It's a strange world we live in.

 

[JasperL]

While I dislike Musk, this seems a bit heavy handed. The government telling a Forum company who they can let talk on their site and what rules they have to abide by?

Free speech doesn't exist if that is legal.

Right, but it's the MAGA and GOP contingent who are pushing the same kind of rules here. Texas and Florida both passed legislation where the government told Twitter et al. who they could ban or not, and Florida compelled 'social media' to platform any candidate for office.

As to the EU, they don't have a 1A or equivalent. It's why 230 and the rules in this country attracted just about all the major online forums, Twitter, FB, etc. because we do have free speech, and free association, so they could moderate as they see fit and operate in the U.S.

 

[Slavister]

While I dislike Musk, this seems a bit heavy handed. The government telling a Forum company who they can let talk on their site and what rules they have to abide by?

Free speech doesn't exist if that is legal.

There is no such thing as free speech in the sense of "unlimited" speech. Each and every country has some restrictions. E.g. you cannot yell "fire!" in a crowded theater as the classic example.

EU decided that " all conduct publicly inciting to violence or hatred directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin" is no good.

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube had agreed in 2016.

 

[CaughtInThe]

Yeah, I read many accounts of this during the early hectic weeks of the "Musk" transition. Apparently the guy paid no heed to people in Twitter pointing out that the 'moderation' choices they made were in many countries REQUIRED by law

For whatever reason that part of your post took me back to my childhood and this old southern guy who lived in our neighborhood and what he would have said..

"That boy dumb as a mud fence."

 

[JasperL]

The EU loves strictly regulating speech.

So do Republicans in Texas and Florida....

 

[Rexedgar]

The EU loves strictly regulating speech.

There is an entirely different mind-set in Western Europe. The good of the group comes before the good of the individual.

 

[daeler]

There is no such thing as free speech in the sense of "unlimited" speech. Each and every country has some restrictions. E.g. you cannot yell "fire!" in a crowded theater as the classic example.

EU decided that " all conduct publicly inciting to violence or hatred directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin" is no good.

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube had agreed in 2016.

Sure, there are restrictions, inciting violence or causing panic in a crowd.

but saying you can't lift bans on certain people seems a bit of a stretch. plus they have rules that push borders for me.

I don't mind the anti-bullying laws (I like those actually) but they still have a few rules they want to enforce on twitter that seems a bit far. Based on the article.

 

[BlueTex]

Sure, there are restrictions, inciting violence or causing panic in a crowd.

but saying you can't lift bans on certain people seems a bit of a stretch. plus they have rules that push borders for me.

I don't mind the anti-bullying laws (I like those actually) but they still have a few rules they want to enforce on twitter that seems a bit far. Based on the article.

Musk might not have been aware but twitter is a GLOBAL business and must comply with the laws of the countries in which it operates just like every other global company... Another example...

 

[daeler]

Musk might not have been aware but twitter is a GLOBAL business and must comply with the laws of the countries in which it operates just like every other global company... Another example...

So basically she has to be fired for cause not "I just want to get rid of people" reasons.

 

[joluoto]

EU warns Elon Musk that Twitter could face fines or even a ban over content moderation rules​

EU has strong laws where a platform has to safeguard against promotion of terrorism, child sexual abuse, hate speech and commercial scams. Without a moderation team (remember Elon fired them) the platform is unable to filter any of this.

 

[BlueTex]

So basically she has to be fired for cause not "I just want to get rid of people" reasons.

Yep... Employment law is different in the EU

 

[joluoto]

So basically she has to be fired for cause not "I just want to get rid of people" reasons.

Yep... Employment law is different in the EU

Every European country have different employment laws.
But generally if you are to be fired outright there has to be a valid reason. If you are laid off on the other hand (as in let go because employer need to save money) you usually get a 2-3 months (depend on country) before the termination of your job actually happens, so you have time to find a new job or alternately prepare for unemployment.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Evidently they don't want people out there pushing Nazi propaganda and stuff.



"Breton told Musk he must adhere to a checklist of rules, including ditching an "arbitrary" approach to reinstating banned users and agreeing to an "extensive independent audit" of the platform by next year, according to the report.

...

Breton had previously urged Musk to comply with landmark EU rules against online hate speech and disinformation. The European Commission's justice chief Didier Reynders had also voiced similar comments."

EU warns Musk that Twitter faces ban over content moderation -FT

The European Union has threatened Elon Musk's Twitter with a ban unless the billionaire abides by its strict rules on content moderation, setting up a regulatory battle over the future of the social media platform, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

www.reuters.com

It’s very difficult to (even plan to) comply with EU moderation ‘rules’ which are not yet written. It will be interesting to see who (in the EU?) decides what user content is deemed to be factual, hate speech or misinformation.

For example:

Is a user asserting that X religious belief is true or ‘the word of God’ misinformation or truth?

Is a user asserting that some given law or tax policy is fair (or unfair) going to be ‘fact checked’?

Is a user asserting that person X is a thug, racist, bigot, misogynist, terrorist or war criminal going to be treated as a statement of opinion, hate speech or fact (depending on who X happens to be)?

Meet the EU Law That Could Reshape Online Speech in the U.S.

The Digital Services Act, recently passed by the European Union, places strict content moderation requirements on Meta, Twitter, and other tech platforms.

slate.com

EU poised to impose sweeping social media regulation with Digital Services Act

The Digital Services Act would regulate everything from “dark patterns” and algorithms to public safety threats and illegal content.

www.rcfp.org

 

[Slavister]

Sure, there are restrictions, inciting violence or causing panic in a crowd.

but saying you can't lift bans on certain people seems a bit of a stretch.

It's the opposite actually. EU actually objects to lifting bands on "certain people" if it's arbitrary. Their whole point is that SAME RULES must apply to who is banned. Not just random people get a free pass based on Musk's mood of the day.

plus they have rules that push borders for me.

I don't mind the anti-bullying laws (I like those actually) but they still have a few rules they want to enforce on twitter that seems a bit far. Based on the article.

Which ones go too far for you?

 

[Buckeyes85]

Sure, there are restrictions, inciting violence or causing panic in a crowd.

but saying you can't lift bans on certain people seems a bit of a stretch. plus they have rules that push borders for me.

I don't mind the anti-bullying laws (I like those actually) but they still have a few rules they want to enforce on twitter that seems a bit far. Based on the article.

Some of their rules seem a bit too far based upon what measuring stick?
As has been pointed out by others, we as Americans can't superimpose onto other countries what we believe to be reasonable in America.