Twitter has recently come under fire by Donald Trump because the platform started “fact checking” the US-president’s tweets. Republicans are now thinking about changing regulations applying to social networks.
Twitter recently added a link to a tweet by the president of the United States in order to point out that his statement was factually incorrect.
The current regulations in the US stipulate that social media companies cannot be held accountable in court for the content on their platforms – contrary to the press. For example, if you were to accuse someone of being a dangerous criminal in an article published by New York Times, NYT could get sued. Twitter or Facebook on the other hand would not run that risk because they are considered open forums where only the individual authors are responsible for their posts.
Donald Trump intends to change these regulations to the disadvantage of twitter.
But what about the EU? Which rules should apply to social networks in Europe?
According to Luxembourgish MEP Tilly Metz, the regulations are definitely not up to date. The current EU regulations are older than Facebook or Twitter.
The Green party politician thinks that it is a difficult discussion as legislators have to consider important aspects of online discourse. Metz stated that social media platforms had a responsibility, but the effects of the respective regulations also had to be monitored. She also ruled out any regulations involving automated filter software.
On Tuesday, the European Commission launched a public consultation regarding this topic. The online questionnaire can be filled in until 8 September.
