Back in 2017, the German Bundestag passed a law called the Network Enforcement Act, and basically....it read, if you are social media and have over 2-million German users....then we (the German gov't) put you (the company) into a special category.
If we (the German gov't) say that 'clearly illegal' content is on the social media platform.....then you the company have to remove it in seven days, or we fine you 50-million Euro.
So Twitter created a center in Germany to handle this. Almost daily, various 'alerts' occur, and an evaluation has to occur....to prevent the 50-million Euro fine from falling into place.
What happens after Elon buys Twitter? No one says much.
Personally, I don't think Elon will respect the law, and right off the bat....he'll either decline German membership in Twitter (cutting into the 7-million German accounts) or just plain making it non-accessible to Germany.
I don't believe he's going to waste time or resources on the Network Enforcement Act....saying Germany is probably a country that needs a highly controlled social media platform, and they can pay for it themselves.
What'll happen next? My humble belief is that a fair number of journalists will start to run public forums over this, and suggest that Elon Musk is hindering safe thoughts/chatter. This will be laughed upon, but it'll be a major topic for at least a month.
Then you will see a fair number of Germans who buy into a VPN....declare themselves to be American accounts, or perhaps non-German nationality....still participating in Twitter chatter.
As for younger Germans asking the key question....just how much censorship or 'control' does Germany need to exert.....to be told that Germans occupy some special status where they can't be trusted after the 'Hitler-era'. On acceptance of propaganda, there has to be a trusted-agent at the door.....saving society from the evils of too much BS or fake news.
Musk will respond to this suggestion....saying that if this is the path ahead....just dumping on a sizeable media site is not enough....you need to extend control to regular newspapers, TV shows, comedy theater, and even nightly newscasts. At that point, most Germans will turn and face the political establishment.....asking them if Musk is right.
It'll an interesting period over the first six months of Musk running Twitter, and it'll be curious to watch how things in Germany develop.
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