<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/08/tucker-carlson-interview-with-putin-to-test-eu-law-regulating-tech-companies>
"The EU’s far-reaching new laws to regulate tech companies including X and
Facebook will face their first big test on Thursday night when former
Fox
News host Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin is aired in the US.
A spokesperson for the European Commission said it anticipated that the
interview would provide a platform for Putin’s “twisted desire to reinstate”
the Russian empire.
“We can all assume what Putin might say. I mean he is a chronic liar,” said the
EU’s spokesperson for foreign affairs.
The interview has raised concerns within the EU that it will be used as part of
Putin’s wider “information war”, with the likelihood that clips would spread
across social media, particularly on Elon Musk’s X platform, providing the
Russian leader with a propaganda coup.
However, at the daily press conference of the European Commission officials
made clear that X and other platforms would be obliged to remove illegal
content under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, which came into force last year.
The law is aimed at stamping out illegal content or harmful content that
incites violence or hate speech from social media.
All the large platforms, bar X, have signed up to a code of conduct to help
them accelerate and build their internal procedures in order to comply with the
law.
Musk’s platform is currently under formal investigation over alleged failure to
comply with the new law.
The onus is on platforms to ensure content is lawful, said a spokesperson for
the digital tsar, Thierry Breton. But he added: “They need to expeditiously
remove content they are aware of if it is illegal.”
“This is a new law; we have never been here before,” said one insider, adding
there had not been any contact with Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg of Meta
relating to the interview as the onus was entirely theirs to operate legally in
the EU.
If a social media platform does not comply with the new EU law it can be
sanctioned with a hefty fine, or banned from operating in the EU."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
