Introduction

A senior EU official is in Silicon Valley to see if Twitter is ready to comply with the bloc’s tough new digital rules, a broad set of new standards that the world’s largest internet platforms must meet in just two months.

The Digital Services Act

European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who oversees digital policy, is responsible for the EU’s work to bring technology companies into line with the Digital Services Act, which will force companies to fight hate speech, disinformation and other harmful material on their websites. The rules come into effect on August 25 for the largest platforms.

This law, along with new rules on data and artificial intelligence, has placed Brussels at the forefront of a growing global movement against big tech.

Twitter’s Compliance

Breton tweeted about Thursday’s meeting at Twitter headquarters for a voluntary “stress test” to prepare for the new rules.

“The company is taking this exercise very seriously,” he said, adding that he had a “constructive dialogue” with owner Elon Musk and new CEO Linda Iaccarino.

The exercises tested Twitter’s readiness to comply with the requirements of the Digital Services Act, including protecting children online, and identifying and mitigating risks such as misinformation in both normal and extreme situations.

Despite Musk’s claims to the contrary, independent researchers have found misinformation and hate speech circulating on Twitter since Tesla’s billionaire CEO took over the company last year. Musk reinstated notorious election deniers, overhauled Twitter’s fact-checking system, and fired many of the moderators.

Breton warned Twitter last month that the social media platform “cannot hide” its commitments after the site abandoned the block’s self-imposed “code of practice” on online disinformation that other social media platforms have pledged to abide by.

Fighting disinformation will become a legal requirement under the Digital Services Act.

Musk said Twitter would comply.

“If laws are passed, Twitter will abide by them,” Musk told France 2 this week when asked about the Digital Services Act.