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    Europe and America will increasingly come to diverge into 2 different internets. Meta is abandoning fact-checking in the US, but not the EU, where fact-checking is a legal requirement.
    Futurology

    Europe and America will increasingly come to diverge into 2 different internets. Meta is abandoning fact-checking in the US, but not the EU, where fact-checking is a legal requirement.


    Rumbling away throughout 2024 was EU threats to take action against Twitter/X for abandoning fact-checking. The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) is clear on its requirements – so that conflict will escalate. If X won't change, presumably ultimately it will be banned from the EU.

    Meta have decided they'd rather keep EU market access. Today they announced the removal of fact-checking, but only for Americans. Europeans can still benefit from the higher standards the Digital Services Act guarantees.

    The next 10 years will see the power of mis/disinformation accelerate with AI. Meta itself seems to be embracing this trend by purposefully integrating fake AI profiles into its networks. From now on it looks like the main battle-ground to deal with this is going to be the EU.

    Europe and America will increasingly come to diverge into 2 different internets. Meta is abandoning fact-checking in the US, but not the EU, where fact-checking is a legal requirement.
    byu/lughnasadh inFuturology

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    13 Comments

    1. grapedog on

      If I am remembering correctly, the EU also has the internet protected as well, no throttling. They seem to do a pretty good job at protecting end users.

      Ultimately, what ends up replacing META? I don’t see Facebook being the top dog in a decade, especially with policies like this.

      Not saying this can’t do damage in the meantime, but I know plenty of people who have closed their Facebook account. Are they waiting for a new META, I don’t know. But the social connection is popular.

    3. youwilldienext on

      If you think Europe’s regulation will mitigate any issues around misinformation you’re in for a bad ride. Europe will slowly transform into authoritarian states, much like what was envisioned in 1984.

    4. zakats on

      Goddamnit, these shitforbrains Republicans neuter anything that’s actually useful to a functioning democracy and population.

    6. Elchouv on

      Hopefully we’ll see the collapse of these social media platforms. Their business models seems to be going more and more off.

    7. jkp2072 on

      Three different markets

      1. Us – free speech without censor(no sense of truth)

      2. EU – old tech with too much censor on all topics(eu sponsered truth)

      3. China – almost us equitable tech with heavy censor on government related issues or topics, rest are uncensored af…….(Govt sense of truth)

      So tech/ai war has just 2 contentdars, who ll control economy and tech in future as well…….. It’s us vs China.

    8. faithOver on

      It’s easy to see the broader trend of compartmentalization.

      China is on its own internet. Europe. USA.

      Something that was designed to connect is turning into a regionally divided service.

      It’s a shame. But I guess you can’t fight human nature forever.

    9. the_millenial_falcon on

      The EU is about to be the only place on the planet that isn’t an authoritarian misinformation filled shithole.

    11. Otectus on

      While I abhor everything that is happening in the US and what this all spells for the future… Europe isn’t really any better and pretending otherwise is arrogance.

      The US doesn’t really care all that much what the EU thinks because you produce no software or intellectual property. The rest of the world doesn’t really care either because you produce no hardware or physical property.

      Europe was relevant for the longest time because they stole all of the wealth they possibly could from the rest of the world when they had the advantage. Now they’re the weakest continent on Earth and the only reason they’re still taken into consideration to begin with is to get a portion of that stolen wealth.

      The minute that wealth, stolen decades ago, runs out… Is the minute Europe will turn into the third world. While the third world is rapidly evolving to replace them.

    12. Brugun on

      Censorship = fact-checking = no freedom of speech. Free to agree with Facebook is not freedom of speech

    13. AdminMas7erThe2nd on

      Keyword is “replacing fact-checking with community notes, startring in the US”, as Zuck pointed out in his [post on threads](https://www.threads.net/@zuck/post/DEhgZJYJu5D). Another interesting point is [his 6th post in the same thread, where he wants to work with Trump to stop ‘foreign governments from going against american companies to censor them’ ](https://www.threads.net/@zuck/post/DEhgbcvpYor)

      Meta/FB already does heavy lobbying in the EU parliament ([source](https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/google-facebook-microsoft-top-eu-lobbying-spending/)). My guess is that Zuck will push for more right wing/anti-DSA politicians in the EU parliament to weaken the rules on DSA so he can push for the same US rules in Europe. He will probably, next to Elon, push for more right wing leaders in the EU nations which will not attack Meta for what they do.

      What is the effect and actual action is left to be seen