Image: Volker Wissing

Elon Musk met with the Federal Minister for Digital and Transport of Germany to discuss issues related to Twitter. In particular, it was about the Digital Services Act.

The Federal Minister for Digital and Transport of Germany, Volker Wissing, is now less concerned about Twitter after talking to the platform owner, Elon Musk. After the San Francisco meeting, the politician tweeted on Thursday evening: “My position is clear: platforms’ commitment to Disinformation must be strictly adhered to until the DSA goes into effect. Elon Musk agreed with me” and thanked Musk for the meeting.

Danke @elonmusk für ein konstruktives Gespräch in San Francisco. Meine Haltung ist klar: Die Selbstverpflichtung der Plattformen gegen #Desinformation muss strikt eingehalten werden, bis der #DSA in Kraft tritt. Elon Musk agreed with me. pic.twitter.com/hmnnW2qRmu

— Volker Wissing (@Wissing) January 4, 2023

The meeting during the minister's trip to San Francisco and Las Vegas was organized by representatives of the German embassy, a spokeswoman for his ministry said, according to DPA-AFX. “The commitment of Elon Musk was made in a very short time - on the eve of the interview,” she added. Wissing and Musk spoke openly and at length. The federal government will continue to monitor the situation critically on Twitter. The focus of the US trip is on the topics of digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving.

In December, Wissing said about Twitter: “I'm worried about the developments since Elon Musk came to power.” At that time, he had not yet decided whether he would use the platform in the future, but a tweet from Tuesday indicated his activity on the platform. The requirements of the Digital Services Act (DSA) will apply throughout the EU from mid-February 2024. For particularly large platforms, the rules should apply from September 2023. Among other things, the DSA stipulates that hate speech and other illegal content on the Internet must be removed more quickly. It is intended to provide stronger oversight of online platforms and greater consumer protection.

On Thursday, Wissing's ministry said: “Like any company, Twitter must comply with the rules of the Digital Services Act in the future.” The DSA will set clear pan-European rules to take action against illegal content, the rise of misinformation, and social media bots.

© 2023, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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