{"id":44552,"date":"2024-08-19T16:50:21","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T20:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=44552"},"modified":"2025-12-09T16:13:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:13:22","slug":"digital-services-act-and-thierry-breton-vs-twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/19\/digital-services-act-and-thierry-breton-vs-twitter\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Services Act and Thierry Breton vs. Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

European Commission<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

X designs and operates its interface for the “verified accounts” with the “Blue checkmark” in a way that does not correspond to industry practice and deceives users.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Second, X does not comply with the required transparency on advertising, as it does not provide a searchable and reliable advertisement repository, but instead put in place design features and access barriers that make the repository unfit for its transparency purpose towards users.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Third, X fails to provide access to its public data to researchers in line with the conditions set out in the DSA. In particular, X prohibits eligible researchers from independently accessing its public data, such as by scraping, as stated in its terms of service.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Via John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Blue checkmarks were indeed used, “back in the day”, to indicate “verified” accounts. But upon purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk eliminated that program<\/a>. They don’t advertise it as “Verified” any more; they just call it “Twitter Premium”<\/a> and make it very clear that blue checkmarks indicate premium account status. That’s illegal under the DSA?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Brandon Gorrell<\/a>:<\/p>\n

On Friday, Elon Musk said<\/a> the European Commission (EC) “offered 𝕏 an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone,” they would not seek to issue daily fines related to 𝕏’s blue check verification system that could total 6% of the company’s annual revenue.<\/p>

“The other platforms accepted that deal. 𝕏 did not,” his post says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Mike Masnick<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I know that many Elon Musk supporters assume that my mockery of the many stupid things that Elon does means that I won’t give him a fair shake. But when he does something good, I’m happy to highlight<\/a> it and give him kudos<\/a>.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

We’ve been warning<\/a> for many years that the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) would be abused for censorship by the government. EU officials and supporters of the DSA kept insisting<\/a> that we were overreacting. But, Thierry Breton has made it clear that while the DSA is under his purview as a Commissioner, it is his own personal censorship tool<\/a> for anything he dislikes online.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Donald Trump joined Elon Musk for a conversation on “Spaces,” the extremely buggy real-time audio chat feature on ExTwitter. Before that happened, however, Thierry Breton posted one of his typically smug open letters that more or less warns Elon that if Trump said anything bad, the EU might seek to take action against ExTwitter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Mike Masnick<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Elon’s response — posting a meme<\/a> telling Breton to “fuck yourself in the face” — while not exactly a masterclass in diplomatic communication, at least made his feelings on the matter abundantly clear. It also made the point that Breton appeared to be using the DSA in a manner that Europeans insisted<\/a> the DSA would never enable: to order companies to censor content.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

Indeed, it appears that other EU officials agree that Breton went too far. The Financial Times covered the story by noting that other EU officials were wholly unaware<\/a> that Breton was going to send that letter, and they sound displeased about it[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Mark Scott<\/a> (via John Gruber<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\n

Four separate EU officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Breton’s warning to Musk had surprised many within the Commission. The bloc’s enforcers were still investigating the platform for potential wrongdoing and the EU did not want to be seen as potentially interfering in the U.S. presidential election. \n“The EU is not in the business of electoral interference,” said one of those officials. “DSA implementation is too important to be misused by an attention-seeking politician in search of his next big job.”\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n