{"text":[[{"start":8.190000000000001,"text":"European democracies are confronting a new online influence and disinformation threat — not from autocracies such as Russia, but emanating from the US. "},{"start":16.544,"text":"Elon Musk, the X owner and Donald Trump ally, is using his network to denigrate leaders he dislikes and promote far-right views and politicians. "},{"start":24.712,"text":"Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg is meanwhile shifting to a Musk-style approach that prioritises “free speech” over independent fact-checking on his Facebook and Instagram platforms. "},{"start":34.067,"text":"European leaders may fear that if they clash with these US billionaires in trying to safeguard their democracies, they could now face retribution from the White House itself. "}],[{"start":43.5,"text":"The power conferred by Musk’s immense wealth and social media reach has been amplified by his closeness to the US president-elect. "},{"start":50.304,"text":"The X boss seems intent on political rabble-rousing abroad. "},{"start":53.822,"text":"He has backed the far-right AfD party ahead of German elections and will on Thursday host a livestream with its chancellor candidate Alice Weidel. "},{"start":60.763999999999996,"text":"He has baselessly accused UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer of being “complicit in mass rapes” — referring to a decade-old scandal over child rape gangs — viciously smeared a female minister, and called to release a jailed hard-right activist. "},{"start":73.607,"text":"He asked his 211mn X followers whether the US should liberate the UK from its “tyrannical government”. "}],[{"start":80.44,"text":"Meta’s Zuckerberg is not, so far, using his platforms to promote his own or extremist views. "},{"start":86.369,"text":"But replacing independent fact-checking with X’s model of “community notes” — relying on users to flag misinformation — even just in the US raises questions about whether content will be properly policed elsewhere. "},{"start":97.46199999999999,"text":"It also appears a craven attempt to curry favour with Trump after past frictions. "},{"start":101.679,"text":"As well as aligning explicitly with Musk’s — and Trump’s — idea of “free expression”, the Meta boss said he would work with the incoming president to oppose “institutionalised censorship” of online platforms in Europe. "},{"start":112.847,"text":"That sets up a clash between a laissez-faire approach by US social networks and EU and UK requirements to regulate content. "}],[{"start":120.66999999999999,"text":"In responding to Musk, in particular, democratic leaders in Europe and elsewhere should avoid a panicked overreaction that plays into his hands. "},{"start":128.274,"text":"Starmer hit the right note this week by declaring, without naming the X owner, that a “line has been crossed” by those spreading lies and misinformation online. "},{"start":136.504,"text":"Musk has succeeded, however, in setting the UK political agenda by thrusting a historical scandal, however shocking and iniquitous, artificially back into the spotlight. "}],[{"start":146.33999999999997,"text":"Some forbearance may also be warranted by the uncertainty over how durable the Musk-Trump friendship will prove; splits are showing in the pro-Trump coalition. "},{"start":154.64399999999998,"text":"A falling-out would somewhat lessen Musk’s clout — and the risks for politicians elsewhere trying to contain him. "}],[{"start":161.12999999999997,"text":"European leaders should make clear, nonetheless, that there are rules that Musk’s, and Zuckerberg’s, networks are required to play by. "},{"start":168.82199999999997,"text":"The EU’s Digital Services Act and the UK’s Online Safety Act both threaten hefty fines for big online platforms that fail to curb illicit content, including forms of disinformation. "},{"start":178.83899999999997,"text":"An EU probe last summer issued preliminary findings that Musk’s X breached the DSA in areas including allegedly deceptive techniques to manipulate user behaviour, advertising transparency, and data access for researchers. "}],[{"start":191.42999999999998,"text":"The EU and UK rules are far from perfect. "},{"start":194.62199999999999,"text":"Both jurisdictions need to take care that tech regulation does not, as Zuckerberg charged this week, stifle innovation. "},{"start":201.22699999999998,"text":"But accusations of leftwing bias in European content moderation serve as a smokescreen for the political and personal agendas of Trump, Musk and Zuckerberg. "},{"start":210.00699999999998,"text":"Europe’s democratic values are so fundamental that its leaders should not shy from enforcing rules designed to protect them — even if that risks clashing with the X or Meta bosses, or the returning US president. "}],[{"start":220.57999999999998,"text":""}]],"url":"https://creatives.ftmailbox.cn/album/187766-1736387242.mp3"}