Twitter has reportedly shut down its office in Brussels this week after the bloc enacted a censorship law that threatened the platform’s new free speech ethic.
Tensions between Musk and the European Union have been simmering after Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for the internal market, warned in a the new Twitter owner last month he would have to comply with the bloc’s new digital regulations.
“The bird is freed,” Musk tweeted. In response, Breton quote-tweeted Musk saying: “In Europe, the bird will fly by our rules.”
The Financial Times reported the Brussels office was shut down after the departure of Dario La Nasa and Julia Mozer, who served as conduits between the company and Eurocrats.
The news comes days after the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) finally came into force.
The legislation grants Brussels more powers to police what they deem ‘hate speech,’ a mechanism to punish platforms that don’t abide by the bloc’s rules.
If Twitter refused to comply with the DSA by February 2024, the EU could impose fines of up to six percent of their global revenue and even ban the platform altogether.
The EU’s vice president for disinformation, VÄ›ra Jourová said:
“I am concerned about the news of firing such a vast amount of staff of Twitter in Europe.”
“If you want to effectively detect and take action against disinformation and propaganda, this requires resources.
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“Especially in the context of Russian disinformation warfare, I expect Twitter to fully respect the EU law and honour its commitments. Twitter has been a very useful partner in the fight against disinformation and illegal hate speech and this must not change,” he added.
Although Musk has emphasized his goals of pro-free speech on the platform, he stated he would not allow controversial InfoWars host Alex Jones to return to the platform.
Twitter is also at risk of being de-platformed by the App store ‘gatekeepers’ Apple, Google Play, and Amazon.
As The Daily Fetched reported earlier this week:
The speculation came following Apple executive Phil Schiller deactivating his Twitter account days after Donald Trump’s account was restored on the platform.
Meanwhile, Apple’s official Twitter account removed all its tweets.
“Musk is playing a dangerous game that could spell game over for the platform he just bought,” Fast Company reported.
“Musk’s platforming of hateful content could get Twitter itself de-platformed,” writes Clint Rainey, warning the company was on a “collision course” with app store “gatekeepers.”
Rainey expressed anger after Musk culled the number of “moderators employed to track harmful content and enforce Twitter’s rules against it.”
Appears Phil Schiller got his panties in a wad over Trump, huh? Poor baby.
Musk needs to give them the bird, make his OWN app, totally separate from theirs, sort of like what gab did, and go his own way. It WILL succeed and that is what they are terrified of, because the people will flock to FREE speech, not Fascist controlled speech.
I love the fact that Musk has further exposed those who wish us dead. The enemies list of the people grows by their own maxine waters style s**t spewing mouths. Hope they get what they deserve.
If Europe doesn’t want green speech they don’t need Twitter!
Musk has shown the despots that control European information/disinformation that he will not play by their rules. In doing so, he shows how willing they are to show publicly that they are in the Censorship Game.
Shut down all the countries that insist on controlling speech and get an independent app storefront for the bird……
Let’s see. Musk owns his own global-coverage satellite Internet system plus makes all the receiving modems for it, owns one of the largest social media platforms and has the money to create any kind of app he dreams up. Someone please explain to me how he can be shut down or censored in any way?
And has a partnership to put receivers for those satellites in cell phones.