Elon Musk and his dubious reputation in the world

Published at: 29/08/2024 06:45 PM

For tycoon Elon Musk, 2024 came with more legal action against his social network X. Countries such as Brazil and Chile are in legal disputes due to information management and European nations such as Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland are suing him for using user data without authorization to train Artificial Intelligence (AI) called Grok.

According to a publication on the DW portal, in April 2024, the Brazilian justice system initiated an investigation against Musk for attacking a judge on the social network X who is responsible for combating disinformation in the neighboring country. “The flagrant conduct of obstruction of Brazilian justice, the incitement to crime, the public threat of disobedience to court orders and the platform's refusal to cooperate, are facts that disrespect Brazil's sovereignty and that reinforce the connection between platform X activities and the illegal practices investigated,” said Alexandre de Moraes, the magistrate responsible for the decision.

Moraes is one of the members of the Supreme Court of the South American country and is responsible for the investigation against platform X in a process that deals with the use of social networks for the dissemination of false news and attacks on democracy.

Musk stated that “this judge has imposed heavy fines, threatened to arrest our employees and block access to X in the nation. We will probably have to close our office in Brazil, but principles are more important than benefits,” he added. Faced with these words, Moraes ordered the federal police to open an investigation against Musk for obstruction of justice and incitement to commit crimes. In addition, he asked that the technological billionaire be investigated as part of investigations into the existence of so-called “ anti-democratic digital militias” and their funding.

For the fake news experts interviewed by the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, Elon Musk's latest statements clearly go too far. “If there were a violation of the Constitution, Musk would have to clarify it in court,” explained lawyer Jazmín Curzi, a professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation University in Rio de Janeiro.

On the other hand, in Chile, the Senate Chamber voted in favor of a law to regulate digital platforms such as Facebook, Google, Instagram, X, among others, as well as any other analog communication medium. The regulations seek to protect the mental health of minors, by preventing access to false, violent or pornographic content and preventing addiction.

Journalist Cecilia Yáñez explained, in an article published in the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, that this law proposes to sanction “those digital platforms that threaten their image, personal and family privacy on the internet; and that they also have the right to the non-disclosure of their personal data and to request that the provider of the digital platform suppress those that circulate without their consent, as long as they indicate so”.

In addition, other European countries such as Austria , Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland , start With this year a lawsuit against platform X for the unauthorized use of personal data to train AI, Grok. These were presented by the Austrian organization Noyb and cover a total of more than 60 million users of the social network. According to Noyb, X has no way to stop using “data already ingested” and must ensure continued compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Due to the start of the judicial procedure against the social network, led by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), and according to the president of Noyb, Max Schrems, he warned: “We have seen countless cases of inefficient and partial application by the DPC in recent years. We want to ensure that X fully complies with European Union (EU) legislation, which, at a minimum, requires asking for user consent in this case.”

In this way, Ireland also took drastic measures against social media companies that refuse to eliminate hate speech. The government of the European country is taking action against hate speech and harmful content on the Internet within the framework of its Criminal Justice Bill (Incitement to Violence or Hate and Hate Crimes), which seeks to update the 1989 Law on the Prohibition of Hate Incitement.

According to information published on the EURONEWS portal, the proposed legislation states that “executives of social media companies will be held personally responsible for delays in removing hateful and hostile content from their digital platforms”.

Given this, there must be regulation and responsibility at the global level with respect to disinformation and manipulation through social networks; what seems obvious is that all countries have the right to take action on this issue, except Venezuela, since once the use of social networks such as X, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok is reviewed, the world news associated with these efforts is linked to words such as: "Blocking, restriction of the authoritarian regime, Venezuelans suffer information blockade, censorship, restriction of freedom to use the Internet”, among others. Why will it be?

AMELYREN BASABE/Mazo News Team