When Elon Musk He ended up being practically forced to buy Twitter, many projected that the social network would enter a turbulent and perhaps cloudy stage. The incident with the launch of Ron DeSantis as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, he was the perfect example of this disaster.
Marking the magnitude of this situation where very few of us measure what the richest man in the world would do to this social network, which yes, had become a hotbed of bots, misinformation, fake news and sock puppets.
However, the truth is that, in one way or another, the company remained involved in projects and initiatives designed to try to combat this phenomenon and make the site a more reliable and friendly place for everyone.
until it came Elon Musk and it began with its extreme policy of cutting expenses to the maximum, which led to the expulsion of the social network from various projects and initiatives. What nobody expected is that the executive would even withdraw Twitter from some essential and even mandatory guidelines in legal matters.
Elon Musk withdraws Twitter from the European Union project against disinformation on the web
According to a report from the BBCTwitter has withdrawn from a European Union voluntary agreement to combat disinformation, a pact that other social media platforms have already adhered to for quite some time.
But now, the European Commissioner Thierry Bretonhas just revealed through his official account on Musk’s social network that Twitter has just abandoned its participation in the project of the Code of good practices against disinformation of the European Union:
Twitter leaves EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation.
But obligations remain. You can run but you can’t hide.
Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under #DSA as of August 25.
Our teams will be ready for enforcement.
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) May 26, 2023
“Twitter abandons the EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation. But the obligations remain. You can run but you can’t hide.
Beyond voluntary commitments, combating misinformation will be a legal obligation under the #DSA starting August 25. Our teams will be ready for your application.”
In other words, participation that was previously voluntary will soon become a legal obligation under a law recently enacted by the European Union itself.
Twitter had joined this project in 2018, where said Code project is part of the Digital Services Act (DSA) of the EU, which imposes strict rules on 19 “very large online platforms” or VLOPs for its acronym in English.
Twitter, Google, Microsoft, Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram, among others, were part of this project, which seeks the cooperation of all those involved to find joint strategies that reduce misinformation.
This situation completely contradicts past statements by Elon Musk, who upon becoming its new owner had declared that his mission was to make Twitter “the most accurate source of information about the world.”
Of course, if Musk does not comply, he could be creditor to a huge fine that can reach up to 6% of his annual worldwide turnover and Twitter could even be blocked in Europe.