Elon Musk Bought Twitter Just in Time for a Social Media Crackdown
SlateElon Musk’s leadership decisions at Twitter can be described as drastic, uncoordinated, and volatile—and, after the events of last week, anticompetitive. As Musk and his predecessor Jack Dorsey have both acknowledged, a social media platform’s number of “likes” or users might not reflect the true audience of a tweet—a public post could potentially be visible to anybody on the internet. Outside its quantitative bar, the DMA also allows the European Commission to select “gatekeepers” based on more subjective metrics, such as if a platform has “a significant impact on the internal market”—although it is not yet clear whether regulators will focus in on Twitter. Back in the U.S., if AICOA does not cross the finish line this year, then it’s possible that it could resurface in the 118th Congress with a lower criterion for “covered platforms” that could include Twitter’s market equity and number of users. Furthermore, the EU’s newly enacted Digital Services Act will require almost all online platforms to allow users to appeal account bans—and if the European Commission decides to designate Twitter as a “very large online platform,” it will also have to regularly assess the platform’s “significant systemic risks” to values like “freedom of expression and information,” “respect for private and family life,” and “protection of public health … and civic discourse.” These provisions could lead to penalties for massive social media platforms that choose, as Twitter has, to arbitrarily suspend prominent journalists, greenlight COVID-19 misinformation, abandon their Trust & Safety Council, and fail to adequately employ content reviewers.