The Man Keeping Musk, Zuckerberg and Big Tech in Line in Europe

Thierry Breton was visibly pleased after meeting with Mark Zuckerberg. The 68-year-old Frenchman was suppressing a smile, his feathery white hair still perfectly in place following a late June stroll through the rooftop gardens of Meta Platforms Inc.’s sprawling Menlo Park complex.

Breton was in California to meet with the heads of big US tech firms. With the European Union’s content moderation rules set to go into effect in a mere two months, the internal market commissioner wanted to get a sense of how prepared the tech titans were to take down illegal content, moderate their platforms in each EU language and open up their algorithms, among other requirements. The leadership at Meta, he said proudly, had done its homework: Chief Executive Officer Zuckerberg had referenced specific acts of the law and had even asked Breton’s advice about how best to comply.