France threatens Elon Musk with EU Twitter ban

2023-05-29 11:56:00

Twitter “will be banned” in the European Union (EU) if it breaks the rules, after Elon Musk’s social network withdrew from the European Code of Good Practice against online disinformation on Saturday, France’s digital minister said. Jean-Noël Barrot, quoted by AFP and News.ro.

Elon Musk and TwitterFoto: STR/NurPhoto / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia

“Twitter, if it does not comply with our rules, will be banned in the European Union in the event of a repeat offence,” the minister emphasized to Franceinfo.

The statement comes after Twitter’s official exit from the EU’s Code of Good Practice against online disinformation, announced on Saturday by French Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton.

Breton emphasized, in a tweet, that the social network led by billionaire Elon Musk is legally obliged to comply with European regulations.

“Twitter plays an important role in public debate, but we cannot take the risk that a social network like Twitter will be taken hostage by supporters of disinformation and, by this, our public debate, our democracy will be affected”, he emphasized Jean-Noël Barrot.

“This is why we have set clear rules and Twitter needs to comply,” he insisted.

EU concerned about Musk’s ‘absolutism’ on content moderation on Twitter

In late November 2022, just over a month after Musk bought Twitter, the E.U warned him the South African billionaire that the social network could be banned from the community block if it does not comply with the provisions on content moderation.

“There is still enormous work to be done as Twitter will need to implement transparent policies for users, significantly strengthen content moderation and protect free speech, tackle misinformation decisively and limit targeted ,” Breton told Musk at that moment.

Ultimately, Musk and Breton “agreed that the Commission’s services would conduct a test” at Twitter’s headquarters in early 2023 to assess Twitter’s compliance with EU rules.

Twitter reinstated the accounts of several controversial figures, including that of the American-British millionaire Andrew Tateafter Musk, a self-proclaimed “absolutist” of free speech, acquired the social media platform.

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