EUs Tech sheriff Sounds Disinfo Alarm With Musk, Zuckerberg

Brussels, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 12th Oct, 2023) Brussels is demanding that X and Meta crack down on disinformation, as fake and misleading online posts proliferate in the wake of Hamas’s deadly assault in Israel.

Thierry Breton, EU commissioner and self-styled “digital enforcer”, raised the alarm in letters sent to Elon Musk, owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, and Mark Zuckerberg, whose Meta group includes Facebook and Instagram.

He demanded each of them provide details within 24 hours on how “illegal content and disinformation” is being removed from their platforms in line with the EU’s new Digital Service Act (DSA).

The legislation, which came into effect for large platforms in August, bans illegal online content under threat of fines running as high as six percent of a company‘s global turnover.

The warning sparked an online duel between Breton and Musk on Wednesday.

The billionaire posted a request that the EU commissioner “please list the violations you allude to on X”, and said his platform’s policy was that “everything was open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports”.

Breton responded that it was up to Musk to “demonstrate that you walk the talk” and added that his team was ready to “enforce rigorously” the DSA compliance rules.

Musk shot back, again on X: “No backroom deals. Please post your concerns explicitly on this platform.” He posted to another user that “I still don’t what they’re talking about!”