EU 'enforcer' visits Twitter, Meta as new rules loom
The EU commissioner in charge of enforcing Europe's new landmark rules on online content is heading to San Francisco on Thursday to ensure that the big platforms are ready.
The two-day visit by Thierry Breton comes just weeks before the European Union's Digital Service Act (DSA) comes into full force for the world's biggest platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta, as well as TikTok and Twitter.
Breton will meet with Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter owner Elon Musk, who took over the highly influential platform late last year.
All eyes are on Musk, who since taking ownership of Twitter has, sometimes abruptly, modified many rules about what language is allowed on the site, even if it is found offensive or delivers hate and misinformation -- in direct opposition to the EU's new rules.
Breton also plans to meet in California with Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, the tech company behind ChatGPT as well the boss of AI chipmaker Nvidia.
EU lawmakers are in final negotiations to complete the AI Act, another proposed European law with the potential for imposing huge influence on US big tech companies.
"I am the enforcer. I represent the law, which is the will of the state and the people," Breton said to Politico last month when announcing the trip.
In an effort to reassure the Europeans, Musk has accepted that Twitter undergoes a DSA "stress test" to see if his platform will reach the EU's standards, though the results will not be public.
On a visit to Paris last week, Musk said he had every intention of meeting the demands of the DSA.
But with Twitter's payroll cut to the bone and content moderation teams decimated, observers doubt whether Musk is in a position to stand by his commitment.
The DSA is
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