Happy Nice Mall

On Tuesday, Elon Musk said that if he manages to buy the social platform for $44 billion, he will reverse former President Donald Trump’s ban on Twitter, which was launched in January 2021 for inciting violence in the US Capitol.

But a day ago, the Tesla CEO said he passed the European Union’s new Digital Services Act, a law that would require big tech companies like Twitter, Google and Facebook parent company Meta to more tightly monitor their platforms for illegal or harmful content. . hate speech and disinformation.

The apparent contradiction underscores the steep learning curve that awaits the world’s richest man when confronted with the complexity of Twitter’s content moderation in dozens of languages ​​and cultures. Twitter must comply with the laws and regulations of multiple countries while considering the reaction of advertisers, users, politicians and others.

“He certainly won’t be the first to say ‘I’m going to do this,’ and then he’ll either realize they don’t really want to do it or don’t want their users to do it,” he said. David Greene, director of civil liberties at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Speaking virtually at an auto conference, the Tesla CEO said it was “morally bad decision” and “extremely stupid” for Twitter to ban Trump.

“I think it was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and ultimately resulted in Donald Trump not having a say,” Musk said. He said he prefers temporary suspensions and other narrowly tailored penalties for illegal or otherwise “earthly damaging” content.

Earlier in the day, Musk met with EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton to discuss the bloc’s online arrangements. Thierry told the Associated Press that he outlined to Musk how the EU supports freedom of expression, while also aiming to ensure that anything illegal is “banned in the digital space.”

In a video that Breton tweeted late Monday, Musk said the two had a “great discussion” and added that he agreed with the Digital Services Act, which is expected to receive final approval later this year. It threatens Twitter and other Big Tech firms with billions in fines if they don’t audit their platforms.

Shares of Twitter fell 1.5% to $47.24 per share on Tuesday. That’s 13 percent below Musk’s April 14 bid of $54.20 per share, a reflection of Wall Street’s concerns that the deal could still fail. Musk stressed on Tuesday that this is “definitely not a done deal.”

“If Musk was worried that a lot of people were upset that Trump was banned, he should have seen how many more people would be upset if Trump wasn’t banned,” said Kirsten Martin, professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame. “Musk seems only concerned about the opinions of a small group of people who incite violence or perpetuate hate speech.”

Trump previously said he has no intention of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated, saying last month that he will instead focus on his own platform, Truth Social, which has been grappling with problems since its launch earlier this year.

A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment in response to Musk’s remarks.

While Trump was president, his Twitter feed often suddenly offered a mix of policy announcements; complaints about the media; humiliation of women, minorities and their perceived enemies; and exclamation points, all caps, and “Sad!” praise its supporters full of one-word statements like

He fired multiple officials on Twitter, and his posts, like his speeches at rallies, were a flood of misinformation.

When announcing its 2021 ban on Trump, Twitter said that his tweets, when read in the context of the January 6 Capitol riot, were meant to glorify violence, and that he plans to circulate online for future gun protests related to the inauguration of then-President-elect Joe Biden.

Musk’s remarks on Tuesday raise questions about whether those who have been banned aside from Trump can return. The long list of people banned from Twitter includes QAnon loyalists, COVID deniers, neo-Nazis, and former reality star Tila Tequila, who was suspended for hate speech.

Other Trump allies who launched Twitter include Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell, Lin Wood and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who were permanently banned in January for repeatedly spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccine safety.

White supremacist David Duke and the often violent Proud Boys organization have been banned, along with far-right trolls who support anti-Semitic tropes called Baked Alaska and face charges stemming from their involvement in the January 6 attack. .

Infowars creator Alex Jones was permanently banned in 2018 for abusive behavior. Last year, Jones lost a libel lawsuit filed by the parents of children shot and killed at school in 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, over Jones’ repeated allegations that the shooting was fake.

Musk said on Tuesday that Twitter has a strong leftward bias, largely because it is now based in San Francisco. This alleged bias is preventing the United States from building trust in the rest of the United States and the world, he said: “It’s very random and I think Twitter needs to be much more evenly distributed.”