EU warns Musk that Twitter protections need to be stronger
LONDON — A top European Union official warned Elon Musk on Wednesday that Twitter needs to beef up measures to protect users from hate speech, misinformation and other harmful content to avoid violating new rules that threaten tech giants with big fines or even a ban in the 27-nation bloc.
Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for digital policy, told the billionaire Tesla CEO that the social media platform will have to significantly increase efforts to comply with the new rules, known as the Digital Services Act, set to take effect in 2023.
The two held a video call to discuss Twitter’s preparedness for the law, which will require tech companies to better police their platforms for material that, for instance, promotes terrorism, child sexual abuse, hate speech and commercial scams.
It’s part of a new digital rulebook that has made Europe the global leader in the push to rein in the power of social media companies, potentially setting up a clash with Musk’s vision for a more unfettered Twitter.
Breton said he was pleased to hear that Musk considers the EU rules “a sensible approach to implement on a worldwide basis.”
“But let’s also be clear that there is still huge work ahead,” Musk said, according to a readout of the call released by Breton’s office. “Twitter will have to implement transparent user policies, significantly reinforce content moderation and protect freedom of speech, tackle disinformation with resolve, and limit targeted advertising.”
After Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” bought Twitter a month ago, groups that monitor the platform for racist, antisemitic and other toxic speech, such the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, say it’s been on the rise on the world’s de facto digital public square.
Twitter didn’t respond to an email request for comment. In a separate blog post Wednesday, the company said “human safety” is its top priority and that its trust and safety team “continues its diligent work to keep the platform safe from hateful conduct, abusive behavior, and any violation of Twitter’s rules.”
Musk, however, has laid off half the company’s 7,500person workforce, along with an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation.
Epstein settlement:
The U.S. Virgin Islands announced Wednesday that it reached a settlement of more than $105 million in a sex trafficking case against the estate of financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The settlement ends a nearly three-year legal saga for officials in the U.S. territory, which sought to hold Epstein accountable after he was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls and of causing environmental damage on two islands he owned. They will be sold as part of the deal.
Epstein’s estate agreed to pay the territorial government $105 million in cash and half of the proceeds from the sale of Little St. James island where Epstein owned a home and authorities allege many of his crimes took place.
The estate also will pay $450,000 to repair environmental damage on Great St. James, where authorities say Epstein removed the ruins
of colonial-era historical structures of slaves.
Epstein killed himself at a federal jail in New York in August 2019.
A heavily criticized private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico secured a last-minute extension on its contract Wednesday despite widespread objections.
Luma Energy obtained the extension following a 4-1 vote by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s board, with the sole dissenting vote cast by a member representing the public’s interest. Luma also will be paid some $122 million next year, up from the $115 million it has received so far.
The approval of the temporary contract comes amid worsening power outages that prompted the U.S. government to intervene this month and start securing barges and landbased generators to ease blackouts.
Crews have started to rebuild the power grid that
Puerto Rico energy deal:
Hurricane Maria razed in September 2017, with only emergency repairs made until now.
Islamic State leader: The leader of the Islamic State group, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was killed in battle recently, the group’s spokesman said in audio released Wednesday. He gave no further details.
Al-Qurayshi is the second IS leader killed this year at a time when the extremist group has been trying to rise again with its sleeper cells carrying out deadly attacks in Iraq and Syria.
Its affiliate in Afghanistan also claimed attacks that killed dozens in recent months.
Little had been known about al-Qurayshi, who took over the group’s leadership following the death of his predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, in a U.S. raid in February in northwest Syria.
Palace racism: An honorary member of the Buckingham Palace household has resigned after repeatedly
asking a Black woman who runs a charity for survivors of domestic abuse what country she “came from,” despite her insistence she was a British national.
The conversation was detailed on Twitter by Ngozi Fulani, CEO of Sistah Space, an east London refuge that provides specialist support for women of African and Caribbean heritage.
The incident took place at a reception hosted by Camilla, the queen consort, for women working to fight domestic violence.
Fulani said when she told a household member she was from east London, she was asked, “No, what part of Africa are YOU from?”
The palace said it took the incident extremely seriously and investigated the “unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments.”
Britain’s Press Association and other media outlets in Britain identified the woman who made the remarks as Lady Susan Hussey, who was Queen Elizabeth II’s lady in waiting for more than 60 years. She is also a godmother to
the Prince of Wales.
Former Chinese leader:
Jiang Zemin, who led China out of isolation after the army crushed the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989 and supported economic reforms that led to a decade of explosive growth, died Wednesday. He was 96.
Jiang, who was president for a decade until 2003 and led the ruling Communist Party for 13 years until 2002, died of leukemia and multiple organ failure in Shanghai, state media reported. The party declared him a “great proletarian revolutionary” and “long-tested communist fighter.”
As Communist Party general secretary, he guided the country’s ascent to global economic power by welcoming capitalists into the party and pulling in foreign investment after China joined the World Trade Organization.
He also presided over the virtual end of European colonial rule with the return of Hong Kong from Britain and Macao from Portugal.