Good, there is nothing wrong with having rules against spreading misinformation if that information can be objectively be verified as false. This weird idea we have to be polite and treat people spreading misinformation with respect is silly. Opinions are opinions, but spreading verifiable lies shouldn't be allowed.
this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
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About time. Everyone should watch John Oliver's segment on Musk from last night. He showed how Musk has way too much power to be ignored. His companies need far more review and scrutiny. This is a very good start.
No one ever reports on the reoccurring environmental violations that have occurred at his austin area boring company site, typically related to the discharge of wastewater (industrial, and otherwise) and erosion. Though, to be clear, theres no raw sewage in the streets or anything like that. The citations are always "resolved," but a few months later, a new round is issued. He gets another slap on the wrist, and then goes about his day. This has been something like 4 rounds of violations for at least a year and a half.
While there has been vague talk of more serious consequences, so far nothing of substance has materialized. The only reason the site even gets inspected, is because it ends up affecting the neighbors.
Before, it was just not wanting to do things properly, but at this point, I'm pretty sure he's just trying to get approval to dump all the "treated" wastewater into a nearby river that's used for recreation. Probably something along the lines of...if you want me to stop inappropriately managinging my wastewater onsite (in a historically residential neighborhood, mind you), give me the permit to put it somewhere else.
The community and the nearest city object to the idea. The ability easily monitor for violations will be nonexistent and nobody has any faith that what will be discharged into the river will actually be clean and up to standards. But of course, the permit isn't going to be decided by those it directly affects.
Context:
Elon Musk’s X has instructed staff not to suspend users that post explicitly racist, sexist and homophobic content, or who send sexual material to another person, as part of a new policy that has radically stripped back the company’s moderation of abusive material.
X is so fucked.
In terms of monetary fines, what're we talking here? And how long until it legit happens?
I want to live to see him go down in a blaze of lolz, but with how slow the legal system can move I don't have high hopes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Services_Act says that "Companies that do not comply with the new obligations risk fines of up to 6% on their annual turnover [i.e. revenue before expenses] in the European Union."
According to https://www.businessofapps.com/data/twitter-statistics/, twitters revenue was $4 billion in 2022. Let's assume it's $2 billion now. Also on that page, it shows half the revenue comes from USA, half 'rest of world', let's assume that means EU. So $1bn. 6% of that is $60 million. Per year.
Not exactly a killing blow, I guess. But paying that money has to come out of profits so this makes turning a profit significantly harder.
I love that your responses have sources. You're awesome.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The European Union has formally announced it suspects X, previously known as Twitter, of breaching its rules in areas including countering illegal content and disinformation.
"X is focused on creating a safe and inclusive environment for all users on our platform, while protecting freedom of expression, and we will continue to work tirelessly towards this goal," it added.
These are the first formal proceedings launched under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the tough new rules for big tech firms the EU has introduced.
"Today, we opened formal proceedings against X based on several suspected infringements of the Digital Services Act," EU Commission spokesman Johannes Bahrke said.
However, concerns about the nature of the content appearing on X have intensified since it was bought by Elon Musk - in part because he laid off many of its moderators - with the European Commission previously warning it had the biggest disinformation problem of any major platform.
In the US, controversy over extremist material appearing on the site has led to an advertising boycott, a bitter row between Mr Musk and a campaign group, and even questions about whether X could end up going bankrupt.
The original article contains 400 words, the summary contains 192 words. Saved 52%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!