Elon Musk He hasn’t had a second of peace since he took over Twitter, and in most cases he has brought it on himself. On this occasion, the tycoon has received a new warning from the European Unionwhich has urged him to take the necessary measures to prevent, under his management, the social network from becoming a platform for Russian propaganda.
This is clear from the most recent declarations of Věra JourováVice President of the European Commission, Bloomberg. The official assured that Elon Musk could end reaching out to Vladimir Putinif the recent layoffs at Twitter have an impact on content moderation and do not allow fake news about the war in Ukraine to be kept at bay.
“By not taking action to eliminate propaganda pieces and disinformation, then you are actively supporting the war,” he said. And he considered that it could be a dangerous move for Elon Musk himself, since, according to Jourová, he is someone “who wants to be seen helping Ukraine.”
Since the war between the Russians and the Ukrainians began, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has been actively involved in it. Initially, the businessman showed his solidarity with Ukraine, especially by sending Starlink terminals to provide them with satellite internet. Situation that led him to a public confrontation with different figures of the Russian government, to the point of challenging Putin to a duel.
However, in more recent months, Elon Musk has been caught in the eye of the storm after posting a controversial “peace proposal” on Twitter. It established maintaining Russian control over Crimea and allowing the regions annexed in the invasion to have elections to decide which country to belong to, among other points. Needless to say, the initiative did not go down well in Ukraine; to the point that his ambassador to Germany publicly insulted him. “Fuck off, that’s my very diplomatic response to you”the Ukrainian emissary tweeted.
Europe closely follows in the footsteps of Elon Musk and Twitter
In his statements to BloombergJourová made it clear that if Twitter loses the ability to control and eradicate Russian propaganda, will be breaching the sanctions in force in Europe against media such as Sputnik and RT. Something that can bring a lot of problems to Elon Musk, especially when the Digital Services Law comes into force.
Let’s remember that the social network is already under the European magnifying glass for the closure of its headquarters in Brussels, after the massive layoffs of the tycoon. This office was the one in charge of complying with the legislation and stopping disinformation on European lands.
It is also important to mention that the EU had already marked the territory for Elon Musk as soon as the purchase of Twitter was consummated. “In Europe the bird will fly under our rules”Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, had warned the businessman.
And to mark that Europe is serious, Jourová assured that Elon Musk should not underestimate the potential sanctions that the social network could receive. “I feel there is not enough understanding from Mr Musk and those around him that Europe is advanced. After many years of really thinking about how to approach the digital sphere, we decided to regulate, and we are serious about it. The regulation must be respected by everyone who wants to do business on the territory of the EU,” he said.