EU Official Assesses Twitter’s Preparedness for New European Big Tech Regulations

According to a high-ranking EU official who conducted a “stress test” of Twitter’s systems in Silicon Valley, the company must make further efforts to comply with the European Union’s stringent new digital regulations.

European Commissioner Thierry Breton said late Thursday that he noted “Twitter’s strong commitment to comply” with the digital services laws, which cover new standards that the world’s biggest online platforms must comply with in just two months.

However, “the work must continue,” he said in a statement after reviewing the results of the voluntary test at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters with owner Elon Musk and new CEO Linda Yaccarino.

Breton, who oversees digital policy, is also meeting with other tech bosses in California. He is the main figure in the EU working to get Big Tech ready for new rules that will force companies to curb hate speech, disinformation and other harmful and illegal material on their sites. The law will enter into force on August 25 on the largest platforms.

The Digital Services Act and new regulations on data and artificial intelligence in preparation have made Brussels a pioneer in the growing global movement to rein in tech giants.

The mock exercise tested Twitter’s readiness to cope with DSA requirements, including protecting children online and detecting and mitigating risks such as disinformation in both normal and extreme situations.

“Twitter is taking the exercise seriously and has identified key areas it needs to focus on in order to comply with the DSA,” Breton said, without elaborating. “Two months before the new EU regulation enters into force, the work must continue so that the systems are in place and work efficiently and quickly.”

Twitter’s global government affairs team tweeted that the company is “on track to be ready when DSA goes into effect.” Yaccarino tweeted that “Europe is very important to Twitter and we are focused on our continued partnership”.

Musk agreed in December to let the EU conduct a stress test that the union offers to all tech companies before the rules take effect. Breton said other online platforms will conduct their own stress tests in the coming weeks, but did not name them.

Despite Musk’s claims to the contrary, independent researchers have found misinformation — as well as hate speech — spreading on Twitter since Tesla’s billionaire executive took over the company last year. Musk has brought back the notorious election deniers, revamped Twitter’s verification system and fired much of the staff responsible for monitoring messages.

Last month, Breton warned Twitter that it “cannot hide” from its responsibilities after the social media site rejected the bloc’s voluntary “code of practice” on online disinformation, which other social media platforms have pledged to support.

Combating disinformation becomes a statutory requirement under the Digital Services Act.

“If the laws are passed, Twitter will follow the law,” Musk told France 2 television this week when asked about the DSA.

Breton’s agenda for Friday includes a discussion of EU digital rules and future AI rules with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whose company makes the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT. But the press conference for journalists was cancelled.

The DSA is part of a wide-ranging update to the EU’s digital rulebook aimed at forcing tech companies to clean up their platforms and better protect users online.

European users of major technology platforms will have an easier time reporting illegal content such as hate speech and will be more informed about why certain content has been recommended to them.

Violations can result in fines of up to 6 percent of annual global revenue — billions of dollars for some tech giants — or even a ban from operating in the EU, which has 450 million consumers.

Breton will also meet with Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, a dominant supplier of semiconductors used in artificial intelligence systems, to discuss the EU’s chip law to boost the continent’s chipmaking industry.

Meanwhile, the EU is finalizing an artificial intelligence law, the world’s first comprehensive set of rules for the emerging technology that has sparked fascination and fears that it will invade privacy, destroy jobs, infringe on copyright and more.

Final approval is expected by the end of the year, but it will not take effect until two years from now. Breton has proposed a voluntary “AI contract” to help companies prepare for its adoption.