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European Commission, U.K. Government Warn Musk that Twitter "Must Protect Users"

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
The European Commission and a spokesman for Boris Johnson have warned Elon Musk that Twitter must comply with European laws regardless of who owns it:

Elon Musk has been warned he must protect Twitter users from harmful content after he struck a $44bn deal to buy the social media giant.

The billionaire vowed to relax content restrictions, sparking fears from human rights groups it could lead to a rise in bullying and misinformation.

"Regardless of ownership, all social media platforms must be responsible," Boris Johnson's spokesman said.

The European Commission also warned Mr Musk that he must protect users.

"Be it cars or social media, any company operating in Europe needs to comply with our rules - regardless of their shareholding," Thierry Breton, commissioner for the internal market at the EU executive, warned in a tweet.

The European Union has said its new online rules will "overhaul" the digital market, including how tech giants operate.

Once they come into force, there will need to be greater transparency around why content is recommended to users, or why they are being targeted with certain ads, for example.

Elon Musk warned he must protect Twitter users

It makes me happy to see that the EU and U.K. are strict about their regulations despite Musk's peddling of (in my opinion) toxic and overly idealistic mantras of "free speech" taken straight out of American politics.

Good for Europe.
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Oh, please. Given the long history of European censorship this is hilarious. If the Euroweenies don’t like it they can pound sand.
 

ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
One of the central EU policies in the commission is about data protection, ( General Data Protection Regulation - Wikipedia ) that strictly controls data harvesting and selling to combat the capitalist hellscape adage "if you're not being sold a product then you are the product."
Facebook got in trouble for this Facebook fined $18.6M over string of 2018 GDPR breaches – TechCrunch and has threatened to pull from the EU a couple times over it.
If Elon attemps to recoup losses the same way Facebook has in the past, he's going to run into litigation or devalue the company very fast.

Granted, I don't think Elon cares about Twitter operating at a loss, certainly Tesla has for most of its existence. Nor do I particularly think he buys his own 'free speech' bull given his record. He didn't spend almost equal to Biden's climate change initiative because he cares about promoting green energy, that's for sure.
This is a power play. You'll see a number of republican politicians banned for breaking TOS become unbanned and some lean put on organizing labor groups, and personally banning anyone who offends him despite the what may have well been a campaign pitch.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
Oh, please. Given the long history of European censorship this is hilarious. If the Euroweenies don’t like it they can pound sand.

This is a freedom index compiled by Freedom House, an American non-profit mostly funded by the U.S. government. One can hardly call them biased against the U.S. Let's see where they list the U.S.:

Countries and Territories

Twelfth in internet freedom. As far as "global freedom" goes, I had to scroll down so much that I literally lost count of the countries ahead of the U.S.

This isn't the only freedom or quality-of-life index that lists multiple European countries ahead of the U.S.

The "Euroweenies" are mostly doing just fine. Perhaps more American exceptionalists and ideologues need to learn from them instead of dismissing what works in favor of what their ideology dictates.
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
Oh, please. Given the long history of European censorship this is hilarious. If the Euroweenies don’t like it they can pound sand.

The European Union countries legislations are all different as for freedom of speech.
For instance, in Sweden there have been people jailed for expressing their view. Or in UK.

In France or in Italy it can never happen since their legislations have a notion of unlimited freedom of speech.
 

NArdas

Member
So EU think tanks deemed it necessary to decide what a company should do in regards to free speech, it seems a deeply undemocratic decision.
Who decides what you say and hear? What have you given up as a thinking human being by kowtowing to these minstrels of your own intellectual doom?
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
This is a freedom index compiled by Freedom House, an American non-profit mostly funded by the U.S. government. One can hardly call them biased against the U.S. Let's see where they list the U.S.:

Countries and Territories

Twelfth in internet freedom. As far as "global freedom" goes, I had to scroll down so much that I literally lost count of the countries ahead of the U.S.

This isn't the only freedom or quality-of-life index that lists multiple European countries ahead of the U.S.

The "Euroweenies" are mostly doing just fine. Perhaps more American exceptionalists and ideologues need to learn from them instead of dismissing what works in favor of what their ideology dictates.
Snort. Some NGO funded by elites that panders to leftist governments. The truth is the Europeans are scared of a platform they can’t control. Because the people will use it to share content the ruling elites find dangerous.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
So EU think tanks deemed it necessary to decide what a company should do in regards to free speech, it seems a deeply undemocratic decision.

Think tanks? No, more like state laws.

And much of the EU has been more democratic than the U.S. for years.

Who decides what you say and hear? What have you given up as a thinking human being by kowtowing to these minstrels of your own intellectual doom?

The law decides to filter out specific things and leaves most intact. I don't see the issue unless the law overreaches, which I don't find to be the case with the EU.

Also, in case you're addressing me as a European, I'm not. I just believe, like many other non-Americans I know, that the U.S. is overconfident in the usefulness of fundamentally flawed shibboleths about political and social freedoms while being a warmongering country and failing to uphold many of its most-touted principles.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
Snort. Some NGO funded by elites that panders to leftist governments. The truth is the Europeans are scared of a platform they can’t control. Because the people will use it to share content the ruling elites find dangerous.

Sure, if you think so, I don't know what to tell you, since I predict you'll dismiss the numerous other reports and studies showing that the U.S. is lagging behind various other developed countries in key metrics of freedom and quality of life, as well as the numerous reports showing that much of Europe isn't the fortress of undemocratic laws that you seem to paint it as.

Edit: Also, the U.K. is ruled by a conservative government, as has been the case many times in previous decades. Europe has no shortage of conservatism, so I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that Freedom House is "pandering to leftist governments" or that it would need to in the first place.
 
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ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Snort. Some NGO funded by elites that panders to leftist governments. The truth is the Europeans are scared of a platform they can’t control. Because the people will use it to share content the ruling elites find dangerous.
Doxing for money? Heck yeah 'Murica! Who needs privacy laws?
We only want content to be controlled by corporate elites that have even less drive to ethicacy or transparency but swallow 'free speech' cries like all good minnows.
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
Sure, if you think so, I don't know what to tell you, since I predict you'll dismiss the numerous other reports and studies showing that the U.S. is lagging behind various other developed countries in key metrics of freedom and quality of life, as well as the numerous reports showing that much of Europe isn't the fortress of undemocratic laws that you seem to paint it as.

Edit: Also, the U.K. is ruled by a conservative government, as has been the case many times in previous decades. Europe has no shortage of conservatism, so I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that Freedom House is "pandering to leftist governments" or that it would need to in the first place.
He is reveling in times past. During the height of the Cold War the US knew that one key way to fight it was with technology and science so the US government invested a lot more in science and science education. US colleges became the place to go for many foreign students as a result. But after "winning" the Cold War the Republicans turned to science denial.

But that is not what I really wanted to post. Yes, the Europeans are all weenies!! Let's here our European members chime in and tell us what sort of weenies that they are. Frankly when it comes to weenies Europe wins again.
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
The European Commission and a spokesman for Boris Johnson have warned Elon Musk that Twitter must comply with European laws regardless of who owns it:



Elon Musk warned he must protect Twitter users

It makes me happy to see that the EU and U.K. are strict about their regulations despite Musk's peddling of (in my opinion) toxic and overly idealistic mantras of "free speech" taken straight out of American politics.

Good for Europe.

This may also bring about some changes in attitudes in the U.S., as a much bigger mantra in the U.S. (besides free speech) has been the whole idea that "free speech doesn't apply to private sector entities," supporting the idea that these companies can ban any post, user, or set of ideas just because they can. It's capitalism, their property, their rights. That's the real mantra of America, even more so than free speech or any other right (including the right to live).

When we develop a practice of selling free speech to the highest bidder, then we shouldn't be surprised if somebody takes the bid.
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
This may also bring about some changes in attitudes in the U.S., as a much bigger mantra in the U.S. (besides free speech) has been the whole idea that "free speech doesn't apply to private sector entities," supporting the idea that these companies can ban any post, user, or set of ideas just because they can. It's capitalism, their property, their rights. That's the real mantra of America, even more so than free speech or any other right (including the right to live).

When we develop a practice of selling free speech to the highest bidder, then we shouldn't be surprised if somebody takes the bid.

I think there is a problem in the United States about the universalization of trends.
Mantras...memes.
 

ADigitalArtist

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
This may also bring about some changes in attitudes in the U.S., as a much bigger mantra in the U.S. (besides free speech) has been the whole idea that "free speech doesn't apply to private sector entities," supporting the idea that these companies can ban any post, user, or set of ideas just because they can. It's capitalism, their property, their rights. That's the real mantra of America, even more so than free speech or any other right (including the right to live).

When we develop a practice of selling free speech to the highest bidder, then we shouldn't be surprised if somebody takes the bid.
Oh they already try to get around that by some 'big enough entity it should be treated like publicly owned'. I just wish they would follow that line of thinking in ways other than just speech. If an entity is too big or too powerful it needs to be seized by the public to stop abuse of hyper centralized power structures.
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
I think there is a problem in the United States about the universalization of trends.
Mantras...memes.

I see it more as a prioritization of different ideals and rights (such as property rights vs. free speech rights), but underlying all this is competing notions about what is best for society at large.
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
I see it more as a prioritization of different ideals and rights (such as property rights vs. free speech rights), but underlying all this is competing notions about what is best for society at large.

I agree. But thought is immaterial and in very rare cases it has juridical relevance.

That is what I remarked in the American juridical system: they care for immaterial notions, like the notion of God. God is present everywhere in institutional matters of the US: in God we trust, so help me God.

In our juridical system, immaterial or abstract notions have zero juridical relevance.
God is an immaterial notion so it does not exist, for our law. It cannot be mentioned.

This reasoning to say that Twitter tweets are pure manifestations of freedom of thought...and since they are immaterial...they have zero juridical relevance.
 

Secret Chief

Veteran Member
The European Commission and a spokesman for Boris Johnson have warned Elon Musk that Twitter must comply with European laws regardless of who owns it:



Elon Musk warned he must protect Twitter users

It makes me happy to see that the EU and U.K. are strict about their regulations despite Musk's peddling of (in my opinion) toxic and overly idealistic mantras of "free speech" taken straight out of American politics.

Good for Europe.
I'd expect it from the EU but am surprised (and a little suspicious) of Johnson's response, given he loves to have his nose up the orifices of millionaires and is a champion of all the RW "freedoms" you'd expect from such a misogynistic racist.
 

exchemist

Veteran Member
So EU think tanks deemed it necessary to decide what a company should do in regards to free speech, it seems a deeply undemocratic decision.
Who decides what you say and hear? What have you given up as a thinking human being by kowtowing to these minstrels of your own intellectual doom?
Quite funny to see the word "intellectual" in this post:D.
 
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