No matter his views, Elon Musk will have to abide by EU laws after buying Twitter, says Fine Gael’s John McGahon
ELON Musk’s takeover of Twitter has put the cat among the pigeons.
The world’s richest man is splurging $44bn on the company, sparking both delight and outrage from around the world.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO will be paying $54.20 per share in cash to acquire the social media platform.
Some fans are threatening to quit the app while others back plans to overhaul it.
However, writing in The Irish Sun on Sunday today, Fine Gael Senator JOHN McGAHON says that new owner Musk will still be bound by new EU laws that crackdown on Big Tech.
ELON Musk is one of the world’s most successful businessmen.
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He has built companies into billion dollar success stories.
He is an avid Twitter user and a strong proponent of free speech. So it’s no surprise his latest business venture is to purchase Twitter itself.
Twitter is a 16-year-old company that has been on the wane for some time. It started out as credible platform where users could engage with each other in a considered and constructive manner.
However, it has descended into the modern-day equivalent of a Reddit thread.
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Countless anonymous accounts spout a variety of off-the-wall ideas — all under the flag of a loosely defined concept of “free-speech”.
I believe free speech is vital for any functioning democracy.
Only when our own arguments are challenged by those of opposing views, can we have confidence that our view is correct or that it is wrong and we need to rethink it.
But Musk’s view of free speech is different and he has spent his time on Twitter acting as a professional troll.
COVID RESTRICTIONS
Whether its hawking crypto currencies, or agitating against those who pose a threat to his businesses, Musk has a no-holds-barred approach to free speech.
Recently, he described Covid restrictions in the US as fascism, but stayed strangely quiet on China, which has implemented one of the strictest approaches to tackling the pandemic anywhere in the world.
I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that China happens to be Tesla’s second largest market, producing 50 per cent of its cars and generating 25 per cent of the company’s revenue.
It is also worrying that Chinese journalists like Chen Weihua, have already called on Musk to remove their “Chinese state-affiliated media” labels on Twitter as they believe it is an attack on their own expression of free speech.
TWITTER CRITICISM
One must ask the question, will China now have serious leverage over Musk?
With the purchase of Twitter, Musk now has all the free speech he can buy, but can what can he actually do with it?
The self-described “Free-Speech absolutist” hasn’t specifically said what he wants to change but has criticised Twitter in the past for engaging in censorship.
No matter what his views or, indeed, his concept of free-speech is, he will be forced to operate within the confines of legislation that is now being passed here in Ireland, in the European Union and in other legislatures around the world.
INTERNET REGULATION
Here at home, the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill is going through Committee stage in the Seanad, and at a European level, the Digital Services Act has just come into effect.
Both pieces of legislation are watershed moments in terms of internet regulation and they will ensure Big Tech is forced to asses and manage risks posed by their platforms.
Meanwhile, in the US, there has been debate around Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 which currently treats social media companies as platforms and not publishers — thus absolving them of responsibility for content posted by others.
Both Democrats and Republicans are keen to reform Section 230 and place more responsibility on companies for the content on their platforms.
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Governments are now shaping social media platforms with a rules-based approach and Musk will have to operate in the same confines of the law as everyone else.
The Elon Musk circus is interesting, but it’s irrelevant. He will still have to follow the same rules as everyone else.
