Elon Musk Must Testify In EU Parliament After Taking Over Twitter: Lawmaker
Lawmakers pressured Elon Musk to come to the European Parliament and confirm that Twitter Inc. it will not be a platform that threatens democracy. Sophie in ‘t Veld, a key panel member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, said she was concerned about giving “freedom” to hate speech, incitement to hatred and violence, misinformation that seeks to influence elections.
“At first we wanted to know: Are you really going to play by the rules, to respect the European rules?” e ‘t Veld, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “I think we also want reassurance that Twitter will not, let’s say, be a threat to democracy.”
The EU’s internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, warned Musk that he will have to comply with EU laws, particularly the Digital Services Act which requires companies to reduce illegal content and take additional measures to combat harmful content.
Musk, who describes himself as a champion of free speech, has made a number of significant changes at Twitter since taking over at the end of October, including laying off nearly half of the company’s staff and making users pay to get a blue tag. So far it means that the company has verified the identity of the user.
E-‘t Veld also said that he would not pay to keep the blue inspection mark. “Why would I pay Elon Musk?” he said, adding that Musk bought the company to make money. “We have to pay him to run his business?”
© 2022 Bloomberg LP
