(Policyinstitute.net) – EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has said in a striking interview with the German Der Spiegel that huge social-media platforms may be banned in Europe if EU law, as laid out in the Digital Services Act, is breached. Since the month of September, legal provisions have been in vigor in the EU requiring platforms to employ sufficient numbers of content moderators so to prevent and counter hate, and to guarantee that algorithms do not promote fake news.

Breton recalled that should the big social-media players not react to breaches in a short time-span, warnings received, fines of up to six percent of the platforms’ respective global annual sales volume will be due. Other measures of the EU might then follow, reaching up to a complete operating ban, Breton pointed out, emphasizing that he will put though the measures: “That is my job.”

The Commissioner had already informed Twitter CEO Elon Musk and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew of the forthcoming EU action some time ago, explaining that children especially should be protected by the EU enforcing the Digital Services Act. In that regard, algorithms will be suject to technical assessment in order to establish if the use of particular platforms renders users addicted. Test-of-courage videos will in future be prohibited, Breton indicated.