Elon Musk’s free speech plans for Twitter clash with EU content rules

The continent’s regulations have been a headache for Silicon Valley for years, and Musk — a so-called “free speech absolutist” — could soon feel the pain.

Hours after Elon Musk tweeted that he had “freed” the bird, a reference to Twitter’s logo, the European Commission’s Internal Markets Commissioner Thierry Breton warned that in Europe “the bird will fly by” the EU’s content moderation rules.

The EU’s Digital Services Act, which officially became law this month, gives the bloc’s executive arm, the European Commission, unprecedented powers to police tech platforms by requiring them to remove illegal content ranging from terrorist propaganda to ads for unsafe toys.