The European has fined X.com (formerly Twitter) €120 million for violating the Digital Services Act. In reaction to the fine, the US government is accusing the EU of censoring Americans and that the decision goes against free speech.
The EU has laws that criminalise hate speech online – often described as speech which incites violence. Hate speech laws in the EU and the UK have been abused prompting criticism that the EU and the UK are limiting free speech, however this particular case is not related to hate speech or content moderation.
The decision by the EU to fine X.com is related to transparency issues. The fine is being imposed over X’s failure to verify the identity of the Blue Checkmarks. Despite introducing the Blue Checkmark, scammers, bots and trolls are also using this feature. Other violations include lack of access to X’s advertisement repository and the failure to provide researchers public data.
The owner of X.com, Elon Musk, who was also a cabinet member of President Donald Trump’s administration, is calling on the US government to take action against the EU officials who took this decision.
The US government’s concerns on free speech in Europe are mainly pretenses to attack Europe given that X.com is banned in many countries including in China and Russia. US government officials like Vice-President JD Vance are openly supporting far-right and pro-Russian political parties in Europe, such as the German AFD.
Newsroom
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