Results days for A-levels and GCSEs see pupils across the UK waiting with no small measure of anxiety for their grades. Big tech CEOs are having a similar experience this week, as the European Union announces the results of reports submitted by tech firms on the scale of fake news across social media. The reports were the first since the Digital Services Act gave the EU sweeping new powers to fine and otherwise punish those who perform poorly.
The report cards were welcome reading for most companies, who have done decently in tackling the scourge of disinformation. But for Elon Musk’s Twitter, now known as X, the message was clear: “Could do better.”
The platform was found to have the highest ratio of disinformative posts compared with its competitors. “There are obligations under the hard law,” said Věra Jourová, the European commissioner responsible for implementing the anti-disinformation code. Like a disappointed teacher, Jourová addressed Musk in a press conference after the publication of the report. “So my message for Twitter/X is you have to comply,” she said. “We will be watching what you do.”
That so many platforms performed decently in the report – albeit with room for improvement – is an indication that Europe’s attempts to chop big tech down to size after decades of running free from regulatory rule is working. The anti-disinformation code is part of a broader sweep of laws hacking at the shins of big tech platforms, including the EU’s proposed AI Act, and last year’s Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, all of which take aim at the companies that have come to dominate our lives.
Tech companies are never happy when they have to bend to rules imposed by third parties – understandably, as it eats into their profits. But there are suggestions, including by industry bodies that represent the platforms themselves, that if regulation is to come, they would prefer smartly thought-through options. Memorably, last week Gerard de Graaf, Brussels’ man in Silicon Valley, characterised the tech industry’s begrudging acceptance of European regulators knocking at their door by asking: “If you’re a regulated industry, would you rather be regulated by an expert or by an idiot?”
The risk of huge fines – 6% of a company’s annual global turnover, in the case of the EU’s Digital Services Act – is also an incentive to follow the rules that the EU lays down. The risk of not complying with the rules on disinformation includes, at its worst, an outright ban across the EU.
Both are significant incentives to comply. Yet Jourová’s veiled threat that Europe is watching Twitter is necessary because, unlike most of his peers in the tech sector, Elon Musk has shown an aversion to regulation.
In May, Musk pulled Twitter out of the EU’s code of practice in an attempt to shirk its responsibilities and avoid the consequences of missing targets. It seems likely that he recognised that firing most of the company’s content moderation staff made it more likely that disinformation would proliferate on Twitter. The EU’s findings this week show that prediction appears to have come true.
Despite the tough talk, Europe is in a tricky situation. Mark Zuckerberg at least made some attempt to meet the seriousness of his position overseeing a tech company – Facebook has been imperfect, but has previously made some voluntary attempts to address criticisms around misinformation, data use and the threat of AI. But just as Donald Trump drastically lowered the bar for what was considered the minimum standard of world leader when he became president, Musk has reached a new nadir for the hated tech executive. Ignoring obligations and flouting rules has become the norm for him.
If they follow through on their threats and ban Twitter from Europe, EU regulators will set an example. But they will also withdraw access to what remains – despite Musk’s best attempts to wreck it – the “de facto public town square” he once boasted it was for millions of people. All because one man thinks he’s above the law. Repeated fines may work to bring Twitter back into line, but Musk has shown he is willing to throw bad money after good on the platform. The result is a potential standoff.
Musk may be the spoiler for Europe’s so far successful approach to tech regulation. Following the letter of the law, doing things by the book and methodically drawing up sensible, consensual regulation only works if all parties are willing to behave.
Or as de Graaf might put it, lawmaking by expertise only works if there isn’t an idiot willing to crash the process.
• Chris Stokel-Walker is a UK journalist based in Newcastle. He is the author of TikTok Boom: China’s Dynamite App and the Superpower Race for Social Media
