Perttu Kauppinen
Saber-wielding with an eccentric billionaire is not the right way to defend EU citizens, writes editor-in-chief Perttu Kauppinen.
Elon Musk interviewed Donald Trump on X earlier this week. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
The European Union’s internal market commissioner, the Frenchman Thierry Breton, got caught this week when he attacked the technology billionaire Elon Musk.
Breton sent Musk an open letter, in which he reminded the billionaire that according to the EU’s digital market regulations, the X instant messaging service owned by Musk should not distribute content harmful to EU citizens.
In his letter, Breton referred to the live broadcast that was just about to begin, in which Musk interviewed Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the US presidential election. According to the commissioner, the EU would not hesitate to get along if there was, for example, racism or incitement to violence.
The EU’s digital market regulations are a large package with which the Union wants to secure the basic rights of users of digital services and create a safer digital environment than before. In principle, a very large service like X can be fined up to 6 percent of its annual turnover if it does not manage to eradicate, for example, hate speech from its content.
Musk reacted to the letter from the EU with a rather low-key insult, and there was no praise from anywhere else either.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, considered the commissioner’s letter an attempt to extend European laws into US politics. Others even spoke directly about election influence.
In the end, the president of the commission, the German Ursula von der Leyen, had to announce that Breton had not sought her approval for his letter or its timing and wording.
However, as the commissioner responsible for the implementation of the DSA, Breton has the right to speak through the mouth of the EU directly to the supervised companies.
Digital technology develops all the time with huge leaps, but as a rule those leaps are taken somewhere completely different from the European Union. Instead of creating innovation, the EU has focused on being a regulatory superpower – the last bastion between technology and the little person, which is collapsing for everyone.
That’s what’s needed. The numerous Kohuts of recent years have shown time and time again that despite all the social media giants’ talk of responsibility, income has been more important to them than rooting out hate speech or fake news.
The EU’s regulatory means have not always been very successful. They have often made it difficult for mainly domestic companies to operate, while the American giants have continued to operate in the same way as before. To top it all off, they largely manage to avoid paying taxes on the millions they collect from, say, Finland.
A single commissioner’s cocking and saber-rattling with an eccentric billionaire like Musk is absolutely the wrong way to fight against the disadvantages of the Internet.
Instead of the EU trying to limit Trump’s freedom of speech, it could, for example, attack fake accounts running rampant on X or Facebook, troll accounts spreading hate speech, or obvious scams. And makes sure that domestic and non-EU actors play by the same rules.
It is good for the regulatory superpower to remember that, in addition to the disadvantages, services like X and Facebook have brought a huge amount of good to many people’s lives without them directly having to pay anything for it.
Monitoring and responsible use of technology is important. In the EU, and especially in Finland, we need ideas on how we too could create innovations that improve people’s lives and increase economic well-being.
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