Tech

Europe warns Elon Musk about what to expect from Twitter

Yesterday, after a couple of quite turbulent weeks, the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk was confirmed. A surprising outcome, both for its meaning and for its speed. And it is that if in the early afternoon we echoed that the board of directors agreed with the economic terms of the offer, but pending specifying other terms, only a few hours later the confirmation of the operation became official. After more than two weeks of friction between the two parties, in less than 24 hours the stars aligned, all the problems were solved and the champagne was uncorked.

Although it will still take months for the operation to be approved by all parties, from shareholders to regulators, for the purchase to be completed, now the main question that everyone is asking, as our colleagues at MuyComputerPRO raised this morning, is what will happen to Twitter once the operation is completeTwitter ceases to be listed, the current board of directors leaves the company and Elon Musk becomes the only authorized voice to define the next steps of the social network.

Thus, even while waiting for these measures, there are those who are already taking positions on this. For example, one of the most commented aspects in recent hours has been what would happen if Elon Musk made the decision to withdraw the permanent veto from Donald Trump, a question to which the former president of the United States has already answered, stating that he would not he considers going back to Twitter even if he could, that he prefers his own social network, Truth Social. Of course, that’s what he says, but basically it will have to be seen if it finally happens.

Who is already closely watching the possible changes in direction of Twitter is the European Union, to the point that there has already been a first reminder, undoubtedly friendly but firm, of what Europe expects from the management of Elon Musk at the head of Twitter . And it is that, as we can read in Ars Technica, the EU commissioner for internal markets, Thierry Breton, has recalled in the Financial Times that Twitter must adapt to the new legal framework of the European Union for the technological ones or, otherwise, it will be exposed to heavy fines and even the prohibition of operating in the old continent.

Europe warns Elon Musk about what to expect from Twitter

We welcome everyone. We are open but on our terms. At least we know what to say to him: ‘Elon, there are rules. You’re welcome, but these are our rules. It’s not your rules that will apply here’”. Kind, as he said, but firm, in a show of firmness that, knowing Elon Musk, it can go very well or it can go terribly wrong. And we must not forget that the new owner of Twitter has already had run-ins with regulators in the past.

And to what are Breton’s claims due? Well, in his campaign for and in favor of freedom of expression on Twitter, Musk has stated that he has plans to lower the control policies on the contentssomething that could go against EU regulations, which require services such as Twitter to exercise greater vigilance over the content that is published on their platforms, to pursue potentially harmful content.

As I said before, we will still have to wait to know Elon Musk’s plans regarding Twitter and, therefore, its fit into the various legal frameworks, it makes sense to begin to mark the limits for the parties involved. And it is that if Elon Musk has already said, in broad strokes, what he intends to do with Twitter, it is a good time for regulators to worry about making their conditions clear to avoid problems later.

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