Twitter “will be banned” in the European Union (EU) if it breaks the rules, after Elon Musk’s social network pulled out of the European code of good practice against online disinformation on Saturday, French digital technology minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, according to AFP and News.ro.
“Twitter, if it does not comply with our rules, will be banned in the European Union in the event of a repeated violation,” the Franceinfo minister emphasized.
The announcement follows Twitter’s formal withdrawal from the EU’s Code of Good Practice against online disinformation, announced by France’s Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton on Saturday.
Breton emphasized on Twitter that the social network under the leadership of billionaire Elon Musk is legally obliged to comply with European norms.
“Twitter plays an important role in public debate, but we cannot risk that a social network like Twitter will become hostage to the supporters of disinformation, and this will affect our public debate, our democracy,” emphasized Jean-Noel Barro.
“That’s why we’ve set clear rules and Twitter has to follow them,” he insisted.
The EU is concerned about Musk’s “absolutism” regarding content moderation on Twitter
In late November 2022, just over a month after Musk bought Twitter, the EU warned the South African billionaire that the social network could be banned from the bloc if it did not comply with content moderation provisions.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done, as Twitter will need to implement transparent policies for users, significantly strengthen content moderation and protect free speech, fight misinformation and limit targeted advertising,” Breton told Musk at the time.
Ultimately, Musk and Breton “agreed that Commission services will conduct a test” at Twitter’s headquarters in early 2023 to assess Twitter’s compliance with EU regulations.
Twitter has reinstated the accounts of several controversial figures, including British-American millionaire Andrew Tate, after Musk, a self-proclaimed “absolutist” on free speech, bought the social media platform.
Source: Hot News
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