Last week, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton visited Twitter headquarters to see how the company has progressed in complying with the EU’s Digital Services Act which is set to go into effect on August 25, The Epoch Times reported.
In a tweet last Thursday, Breton said that Twitter will be the first social media platform “to undergo a ‘stress test'” in preparing for the Digital Services Act. Breton said he had “constructive dialogue” with Twitter owner Elon Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino before the “real test” on August 25, adding that Twitter “is taking this exercise seriously.”
Under the Digital Services Act, new limits will be placed on online platforms like Amazon, Facebook Google, and Twitter on how they police content and interact with users. Platforms will be required to do more to reduce the spread of misinformation and so-called hate speech.
A platform that violates the act will face fines of up to 6 percent of its annual global revenue, and could, at worst, be banned from operating in the EU.
Under the Digital Service Act, the European Commission is granted significant power to regulate and monitor online platforms to make them comply with the European Union’s antitrust rules.
After the meeting at Twitter headquarters, Breton told reporters that he told Musk and Yaccarino to be sure Twitter has “enough resources” available to moderate content by August 25 to avoid violating the Digital Services Act.
Breton said that he told them that some areas will be critical to immediately enforce when the Digital Services Act goes into effect, particularly content that is related to child abuse as well as “disinformation in elections.”
In a recent interview with Breitbart News, EU member Nicolas Bay said the Digital Services Act is a pretext to enforce an “authoritarian project” on the European Union.
Bay said the European Union seeks to “promote political correctness” while spreading its “woke agenda” by “restricting freedom of speech.”
