A UK government spokesperson said companies must adhere to the forthcoming online safety bill, which requires platforms to protect users from harmful content, or face the threat of large fines and, for repeat offenders, a total ban.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwitter and all social media platforms must protect their users from harm on their sites. We are introducing new online safety laws to safeguard children, prevent abusive behaviour and protect free speech. All tech firms with users in the UK will need to comply with the new laws or face hefty fines and having their sites blocked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thierry Breton, the EU\u2019s commissioner for the internal market, reminded the Tesla chief executive on Tuesday that he would have to comply with the newly agreed Digital Services Act,\u00a0which requires online platforms to tackle illegal content such as hate speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe it cars or social media, any company operating in\u00a0Europe\u00a0needs to comply with our rules \u2013 regardless of their shareholding,\u201d tweeted Breton. \u201cMr Musk knows this well. He is familiar with European rules on automotive, and will quickly adapt to the Digital Services Act.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Financial Times, Breton added: \u201cWe welcome everyone. We are open but on our conditions. At least we know what to tell him: \u2018Elon, there are rules. You are welcome but these are our rules. It\u2019s not your rules which will apply here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to warn that companies in breach of the new rules, expected to come into force in 2024, can face fines of up to 6% of global turnover and outright bans for repeat offenders.<\/p>\n
The act will require social media platforms to allow users to flag illegal content \u2013 such as promotion of terrorism or commercial scams \u2013 in an \u201ceasy and effective way\u201d so that it can be swiftly removed.<\/p>\n Breton spoke as human rights groups reacted to the Twitter board accepting Musk\u2019s bid with warnings of damaging consequences if the billionaire\u2019s commitment to free speech results in a loosening of restrictions on harmful content.<\/p>\n Amnesty International said it was concerned about any decision that Twitter may take after Musk\u2019s takeover to erode enforcement of the policies and mechanisms designed to moderate hate speech online.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last thing we need is a Twitter that wilfully turns a blind eye to violent and abusive speech against users, particularly those most disproportionately impacted, including women, non-binary persons, and others,\u201d Michael Kleinman, director of technology and human rights at Amnesty International USA,<\/p>\n Deborah Brown, a digital rights researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch, said even small changes to the platform could have a devastating impact.<\/p>\n \u201cRegardless of who owns Twitter, the company has human rights responsibilities to respect the rights of people around the world who rely on the platform. Changes to its policies, features, and algorithms, big and small, can have disproportionate and sometimes devastating impacts, including offline violence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Musk tweeted on Tuesday, saying: \u201cThe extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all.\u201d<\/p>\n The UK is also introducing a tougher regulatory regime for digital platforms with the\u00a0online safety bill, which requires businesses such as Twitter and Facebook to protect users from harmful content and carries the threat of fines of up to 10% of global turnover for breaches.<\/p>\n Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a campaign group, said: \u201cThe UK and the EU are going to have tools to deal with this. Twitter is going to find it very difficult to operate in the UK if it tries to operate on a completely free speech, zero-rules basis.\u201d<\/p>\n Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has backed Musk takeover of the micro-blogging platform, describing the billionaire as \u201cthe singular solution I trust\u201d.<\/p>\n The 45-year-old, who co-founded the company in 2006 and floated it on the New York Stock Exchange in 2013, said it has been \u201cowned\u201d by Wall Street and that\u00a0Musk\u2019s deal struck on Monday to take it private\u00a0was the \u201ccorrect first step\u201d.<\/p>\n However, Dorsey, who stepped down as Twitter chief executive in November and will receive a $978m payout for his 2.4% stake when the deal is completed later this year, said that ultimately \u201cin principle I don\u2019t believe anyone should own or run Twitter\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company,\u201d he said, in a\u00a0series of tweets. \u201cSolving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.\u201d<\/p>\n Parag Agrawal, who took over from Dorsey as chief executive, has told staff that their jobs are only safe for about the six months it will take to get the deal done.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce the deal closes, we don\u2019t know which direction the platform will go,\u201d said Agrawal, who is in line for a $38.7m pay package due to a \u201cchange of control\u201d clause in his contract.<\/p>\n Donald Trump, who was\u00a0permanently banned from Twitter\u00a0after the US Capitol riots last January, has said he would not return to the platform even if Musk allowed him. Musk has said he favours temporary \u201ctime-outs\u201d for users who breach Twitter\u2019s policies, instead of outright bans.<\/p>\n Musk sealed the $44bn deal to buy Twitter after a dramatic few weeks of speculation about the platform\u2019s future, triggered by Musk\u2019s emergence as its largest single shareholder\u00a0on 4 April. He then declared a takeover bid\u00a0on 14 April, offering to buy all Twitter\u2019s shares for $54.20 each.<\/p>\n The Twitter board\u2018s initial reluctance to accept a transaction appeared to fade after Musk\u00a0confirmed a funding package for the deal\u00a0\u2013 including $21bn of his own money, alongside debt funding from Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions \u2013 and shareholders warmed to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The UK and EU have warned that Twitter must comply with new content rules or face sanctions that range from fines to a total ban, as concerns were raised that hate speech will increase on the platform under the ownership of\u00a0Elon Musk. The world\u2019s richest man has agreed a $44bn (\u00a334bn) deal to buy the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":20809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,50],"tags":[8657,7167,8348,5777,2701,11941,5717,10387,9649,5520,287,6725,11538,4119,10344,159,6621,9505,8123,5468,8057,7293,3545,3577,2264,11537,10840,5661,10321,12773,10954,7407,12329,10742,5612,8175,7259,990,6332,12727,6404,8386,11093,10722,13301,9636,5713,6808,5349,10041,6327,11325,10236,6675,9151,5351,8375,5350,12605,10412,6348,10829,10943,3954,5320,36,594],"class_list":["post-20808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-technology","tag-amnesty","tag-amnesty-international","tag-ban","tag-banned","tag-behaviour","tag-bill","tag-billionaire","tag-campaign","tag-capitol","tag-cars","tag-children","tag-debt","tag-digital","tag-elon-musk","tag-emergence","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-eye","tag-facebook","tag-fear","tag-fines","tag-founder","tag-future","tag-government","tag-harmful","tag-human-rights","tag-human-rights-watch","tag-illegal","tag-increase","tag-international","tag-jobs","tag-laws","tag-market","tag-money","tag-morgan-stanley","tag-musk","tag-new-york","tag-online","tag-package","tag-parag-agrawal","tag-platform","tag-reminded","tag-removed","tag-results","tag-richest-man","tag-sanctions","tag-shares","tag-social-media","tag-speech","tag-stock","tag-street","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-terrorism","tag-tesla","tag-thierry-breton","tag-twitter","tag-uk","tag-uk-government","tag-us","tag-wall-street","tag-watch","tag-will","tag-women","tag-world","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/685f13c2129a016cab5ec5549f8eba9e274f6567\/16_109_3143_1887\/master\/3143.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=9a59bc0c7b880ffa1dbc68b0504f2739\")
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