Good morning,
When the EU commission slapped his social media site X with a €120m fine just before Christmas, Elon Musk compared the EU to Nazi Germany. Weeks later, after the commission threatened to take action to prevent Musk’s chatbot Grok from posting sexualised deepfake pictures, he had moderated the comparison to ‘fascist’.
Yet in both cases, a bilious reaction has been followed by acceptance. The commission insists that Musk will be paying the €120m — after a competition probe concluded that X's "verified" blue check accounts were misleading since anyone can pay to obtain such an account — whether he likes it or not.
Days after commission president Ursula von der Leyen described the nude images on Grok of real women and, in some cases, underage girls, as “appalling” and ‘disgusting”, Musk announced that “technological measures” would be implemented to prevent platform users from being able to virtually undress people.
In response, a commission spokesperson has said that it will make sure Musk keeps his word.
"Should these changes not be effective, the commission will not hesitate to use the full enforcement toolbox of the Digital Services Act."
What does this tell us?
Firstly, that EU laws have teeth and that the commission commands respect from hostile actors when it enforces them.
Yet the commission announced the €120m fine late on a Friday in an obvious attempt to bury the news.
Musk is a bully and a bully preys on weakness. As his political hero and mentor US president Donald Trump attempts to bully Denmark into giving him Greenland, and threatens to take the territory by force if it won’t, it is tempting to conclude that unity and determination among EU leaders would also force Trump to back down.
- Benjamin Fox, Africa editor
Advert
EUobserver relies on subscriptions to hold the EU to account – if you're not already, do consider becoming a supporting member here.
Top Story
Von der Leyen backs Greenland, pledges US cooperation despite threats
EU Commission president said on Thursday that Greenland can count on the EU, but when it comes to security, she passed the responsibility to Nato, while pledging to keep working with the US, despite renewed threats.
What else you need to know
Von der Leyen backs Greenland, pledges US cooperation despite threats
EU Commission president said on Thursday that Greenland can count on the EU, but when it comes to security, she passed the responsibility to Nato, while pledging to keep working with the US, despite renewed threats.Read on »
Spotlight on EU Parliament, as MEPs decide future of EU tradeAnalysis
The fate of the EU's trade relations with the United States and Mercosur lie in the hands of the European parliament, where a simple majority will determine ratification or rejection. Read on »
MEPs lambast EUs €1.5bn car-battery plan: 'Nobody trusts this to work'
A €1.5bn EU plan to kickstart domestic battery production failed to convince MEPs who warned that proposed funding is dwarfed by Chinese state support.Read on »
Advert
Far-right weaponising anti-Roma hate in EU elections
Discrimination against Roma is still common all over Europe, with far-right parties using an 'us versus them' narrative to gain support in elections.Read on »
Vienna institute scouts Indian IT workers, even as Europe hardens borders
A Vienna-based migration organisation is setting up operations in India in an effort to attract IT specialists to Europe, even as EU governments move to tighten asylum rules.Read on »
87 days to election: Hungary sees widening gap in favour of Tisza over Orbán's FideszNewsletter
Journalist Veronika Munk reviews Hungary’s political developments on the road to the April election, from the latest opinion polls and Fidesz’s reshuffled slate of 106 candidates, to campaign mishaps over a hijacked slogan domain, a growing diplomatic row between Péter Magyar and Slovakia, and fresh regional tensions after Hungary granted political asylum to former Polish government officials.Read on »
A democratic solution for the Euro-American conflict over GreenlandOpinion
After president Trump’s repeated proclamations that he wants ‘to have Greenland’, military officials and diplomats from Greenland, Denmark and NATO have been trying to find a way-out of the current crisis. The EU should step in and defuse the artificial tensions through democratic means.Read on »
In case you missed it
The case for putting a European military presence in GreenlandOpinion
A multinational European contingent, rotating and modest in size, would internationalise the security of Greenland. Any hostile act would no longer be a bilateral issue between Copenhagen and Washington, but an incident involving several European states. This would not be a force designed to fight the United States, nor a step towards militarising the Arctic.Read on »
Euro dreams or mafia schemes? Inside Bulgaria’s deeper crisisFeature
The collapse of the Bulgarian government last week following massive anti-graft protests puts in sharp relief a state captured by deep corruption that has for years served the interests of a ruling elite. Read on »
How Meta enables deepfake financial scams — and EU AI Act isn't fixing itOpinion
Meta’s automated and human moderation systems are dysfunctional, with the company prioritising ad revenue over public safety. According to an investigation, Facebook and Instagram staff were instructed to tolerate up to 32 fraud “strikes” before acting, with enforcement against scams deliberately deprioritised to avoid losing ad revenue. Read on »
Bolshoi-loving banker threatened Euroclear CEO, amid EU talks on Russian assetsInvestigation
A French banker inside Euroclear, who flew to Russia 155 times for "private" reasons, allegedly tried to connect the company's CEO, Valérie Urbain, with Russian spies and threatened her when she declined, according to an investigation by EUobserver, Humo, De Morgen, and Dossier Center.Read on »
How weakening due diligence EU rules became a ‘betrayal’ for workersAnalysis
The proposed rollback of the EU’s corporate accountability rules will significantly weaken their ability to address labour violations within the EU, experts and labour union representatives told EUobserver. Read on »
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten