Elon Musk Pledges Twitter Will Play Nice With EU Rulebook — But Keeps Mum On French Tesla Gigafactory

Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, confirmed on French TV that the company will respect the EU’s Digital Services Act, pledging to comply with enacted laws. 

What Happened: In an interview with Anne-Sophie Lapix on France 2, Musk said, “If a law is enacted, Twitter commits to comply with it.” 

Musk had to repeat that statement at least four times throughout the interview.

Despite concerns raised by France’s digital minister, Musk stated that Twitter would comply with the law without going beyond its requirements. Despite conflicting statistics, he said Twitter had seen a 30% decrease in hate speech during his tenure.

He emphasized the importance of defining hate speech carefully to avoid excessive censorship. 

Musk also expressed optimism about the return of advertisers to the platform.

Politico reported the interview earlier on Monday.  

See Also: What Will Elon Musk Put On His ‘Highlights’ Tab?

On another note, he discussed the potential for Tesla Inc‘s TSLA significant presence in France but did not commit to building a Gigafactory in the country. 

Musk praised President Emmanuel Macron, who he met on Friday, and supported localizing production to reduce energy consumption in the automotive industry.

When asked about his aspirations for the U.S. presidency, Musk declined, citing his current positions as affording him greater power and flexibility.

Why It Matters: Twitter, categorized as a large platform under the EU’s content-moderation law, is required to implement measures against fake news starting from Aug. 25. 

It has been reported that since Musk took over Twitter in October last year, the microblogging site has approved 83% more censorship requests from governments such as Turkey and India.

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