PARIS (Reuters) – Elon Musk has assured the European Commission that Twitter will continue to abide by tough European rules on illegal online content policing now the social network has passed under his ownership, EU sources said on Monday.
In a previously unreported exchange last week, Musk told Thierry Breton, the EU’s industry chief, that he planned to comply with the region’s Digital Services Act, which levies hefty fines on companies if they do not control illegal content.
The self-described free speech absolutist agreed to hold a meeting with Breton, a former French finance minister, in the coming weeks, the EU officials told Reuters. The exchange came after Breton took to Twitter to warn Musk about the new European legislation on Friday. “In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules,” Breton tweeted on Friday. The assurances from Musk appeared to suggest a pragmatic attitude from the CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc, who has previously expressed his desire to see Twitter have fewer limits on content that can be posted.
(Reporting by Michel Rose)
