As the EU prepares its third landmark tech law in the past few years, the US has enacted only two narrow federal tech laws in the past 25 years
one for children's privacy and the other for ridding sites of sex-trafficking content —in the past 25 years.” https://www.nytimes.com/... Chris O'Brien / @obrien : EU policymakers, while not perfect, have 2 major advantages: They are far enough from Silicon Valley to not be brain-addled by its utopian bullshit. And there is a belief that government can be a positive force for people and markets. The US will simply never get there. https://twitter.com/... Elizabeth M. Renieris / @hackylawyer : “It's what I call the ‘big con,’ where the tech companies spin a story that they are doing magic and that if Washington touches their companies with regulations they'll be responsible for breaking that magic.” -@tewheels Story via @ceciliakang https://www.nytimes.com/... Sam Dumitriu / @sam_dumitriu : It's not hard to think of cases where bans on ad targeting could backfire and harm minorities. What happens to a hairdresser who specialises in Afro-Caribbean hair? Can they target their ads? What about a bookshop that specialises in queer literature? https://twitter.com/... James Clark / @mr_james_c : Never ceases to amaze me the uncritical reporting the EU receives for unworkable, poorly considered laws. Tell me another political organisation that gets such coverage? https://twitter.com/... Johnny Ryan / @johnnyryan : I spoke to @NYTimes about Digital Services Act, and Europe's dismal record of enforcement against Big Tech https://www.nytimes.com/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : Kicker: “Big Tech sees data as dollar signs, so for decades they've bankrolled industry lobbyists to help them evade accountability,” @SenMarkey said. 'We've reached a breaking point.'" https://twitter.com/... Justin Hendrix / @justinhendrix : DSA deal moved so quickly... https://twitter.com/... @carnage4life : Tech platforms now have to deal with the realities of geopolitics like every other industry instead of feigning neutrality. Apple has to balance banning Navalny's app to appease Putin with deciding when to pull out of the country because of global outrage at Putin' war mongering @carnage4life : Reading a thread on the EU's Digital Services Act and the trends are going in the direction I've predicted. Governments want more power to censor social media but also want to restrict the platform's ability to censor (aka moderate). It's a global theme. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... John Wilson / @johnwilson : Probably because the tech companies they're targeting are not based there. https://twitter.com/... @eff : As the final trilogue on the EU's Digital Services Act wraps up, we remain concerned that proposed changes in the liability regime for large platforms will morph into a scanning program threatening free expression. @Europarl_EN must stand with users and reject such proposals. @accessnow : Today's the day — the EU is set to reach a deal on the Digital Services Act. The #DSA will revolutionise platform and content governance. It must put people's rights first. https://www.ft.com/... Nathalie Van Raemdonck / @eilah_tan : I once heard an American scoff at my European colleagues at a cyberdiplomacy event saying “what tech innovations have ever come out of the EU?” to which they replied: “Laws” https://www.nytimes.com/... Daphne Keller / @daphnehk : But honestly, those DSA changes are less surprising. It looks like the war in Ukraine created a political opportunity for advocates of tighter restrictions to push their agenda (for “security” to trump “liberty"), and they took it. That's pretty normal politics, if bad law. 4/ Jesse Lehrich / @jesselehrich : 🚨 Barack Obama &Hillary Clinton have both touted the EU's Digital Services Act as a bulwark for democracy today. tomorrow, European negotiators have a chance to reach a final agreement on the landmark overhaul of platform governance standards. https://twitter.com/...
New York TimesCecilia Kang
Context & Ripple Effects
The Digital Services Act extends the EU’s role as the regulator willing to constrain Silicon Valley where Washington has not, following the earlier EU intervention into platform oversight. As negotiators near a deal, the gap is sharper because the US federal record cited here is limited to two narrowly targeted laws.
The DSA arrives alongside the Digital Markets Act, where major US platforms had already shifted from lobbying for major changes toward preparing for compliance. It makes European rulemaking an operational priority even without comparable federal US standards.
First-order effects
Large platforms face another EU compliance regime as the DSA agreement nears, while EFF’s warning over proposed liability changes puts content-scanning and free-expression safeguards at the center of implementation.
US lawmakers and regulators are left with a visibly narrower federal framework for platform privacy and liability than the EU’s expanding set of rules.
Liability rules that encourage scanning would shift compliance burdens toward platforms’ moderation systems and intensify disputes between safety enforcement and expression advocates.
Third-order effects
If the EU continues to legislate while the US relies on narrow federal statutes, Brussels will increasingly set the practical baseline that global platforms build around.
The resulting transatlantic divide is likely to make platform regulation a continuing source of political conflict, as US lawmakers have argued EU rules unfairly target American firms in their warning to Biden.
The trend: Platform governance is fragmenting into an assertive EU rulemaking model and a comparatively limited US federal approach, forcing global companies to operate across diverging regimes.
For too long, tech platforms have amplified disinformation and extremism with no accountability. The EU is poised to do something about it. I urge our transatlantic allies to push the Digital Services Act across the finish line and bolster global democracy before it's too late.
The lesson from GDPR: writing laws can be easier than enforcing them. While the European Union has a reputation as the world's toughest regulator of the tech industry, its actions have sometimes appeared tougher on paper than in practice. https://www.nytimes.com/...
E.U. deal on a landmark internet law expected today. - Firms must create new policies to remove illicit content. _ Audits for “systemic risks” (misinfo, eating disorder content, etc) _ Ban on ad targeting based on race, religion, sexual orientation https://www.nytimes.com/...
Today might be D-Day for the Digital Services Act! Together with the European Parliament & Council, the Commission has worked in record time to protect 🇪🇺 citizens online. Here are the 10 things you need to know about the #DSA ahead of our (hopefully) final trilogue. 🧵⤵️ https://…
The U.S. is the birthplace of the iPhone, Google, Facebook. But leadership on regulations is taking place more than 3,000 miles from DC, by Europeans from 27 nations w 24 languages, who have nonetheless agreed on online protections for 450million citizens. https://www.nytimes.com…
Ugh. The Digital Services Act has tremendous problems, and is in the process of getting worse as special interests shove in dangerous christmas presents. It won't “boost global democracy.” It will do tremendous damage to the internet. https://twitter.com/...
Conservatives who prioritize culture warring are enabling big tech control, not subverting it. Here's @CSWilsonFTC, one of Google/FB's biggest allies at the Federal Trade Commission, exploiting culture warring to stop antitrust action. https://twitter.com/...
“the new laws underscore how Europe is setting the standard for tech regulation globally.” exactly. great @satariano piece on #DSA w/key points from @AlexandraGeese & @johnnyryan https://www.nytimes.com/...
NEW with comments open: The EU, with 27 nations with 24 languages, has nonetheless been able to agree on basic internet protections for their 450 million citizens. And the US is falling further behind https://www.nytimes.com/...
There's public mistrust & political fury at some tech cos but, @ceciliakang: “Only two narrow federal tech laws have been enacted—one for children's privacy and the other for ridding sites of sex-trafficking content —in the past 25 years.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
EU policymakers, while not perfect, have 2 major advantages: They are far enough from Silicon Valley to not be brain-addled by its utopian bullshit. And there is a belief that government can be a positive force for people and markets. The US will simply never get there. https://t…
“It's what I call the ‘big con,’ where the tech companies spin a story that they are doing magic and that if Washington touches their companies with regulations they'll be responsible for breaking that magic.” -@tewheels Story via @ceciliakang https://www.nytimes.com/...
It's not hard to think of cases where bans on ad targeting could backfire and harm minorities. What happens to a hairdresser who specialises in Afro-Caribbean hair? Can they target their ads? What about a bookshop that specialises in queer literature? https://twitter.com/...
Never ceases to amaze me the uncritical reporting the EU receives for unworkable, poorly considered laws. Tell me another political organisation that gets such coverage? https://twitter.com/...
Kicker: “Big Tech sees data as dollar signs, so for decades they've bankrolled industry lobbyists to help them evade accountability,” @SenMarkey said. 'We've reached a breaking point.'" https://twitter.com/...
Tech platforms now have to deal with the realities of geopolitics like every other industry instead of feigning neutrality. Apple has to balance banning Navalny's app to appease Putin with deciding when to pull out of the country because of global outrage at Putin' war mongering
Reading a thread on the EU's Digital Services Act and the trends are going in the direction I've predicted. Governments want more power to censor social media but also want to restrict the platform's ability to censor (aka moderate). It's a global theme. https://twitter.com/... h…
As the final trilogue on the EU's Digital Services Act wraps up, we remain concerned that proposed changes in the liability regime for large platforms will morph into a scanning program threatening free expression. @Europarl_EN must stand with users and reject such proposals.
Today's the day — the EU is set to reach a deal on the Digital Services Act. The #DSA will revolutionise platform and content governance. It must put people's rights first. https://www.ft.com/...
I once heard an American scoff at my European colleagues at a cyberdiplomacy event saying “what tech innovations have ever come out of the EU?” to which they replied: “Laws” https://www.nytimes.com/...
But honestly, those DSA changes are less surprising. It looks like the war in Ukraine created a political opportunity for advocates of tighter restrictions to push their agenda (for “security” to trump “liberty"), and they took it. That's pretty normal politics, if bad law. 4/
🚨 Barack Obama & Hillary Clinton have both touted the EU's Digital Services Act as a bulwark for democracy today. tomorrow, European negotiators have a chance to reach a final agreement on the landmark overhaul of platform governance standards. https://twitter.com/...