It was from these offices that Twitter would become a good student of European standards. But the company’s facilities in Brussels have been closed, says the financial times. This decision is accompanied by the departure of the two heads of Twitter’s digital policy for its activity in Europe.
Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa are among the more than 5,000 employees who left the company after its acquisition by Elon Musk. The only problem was that these administrators had the hard task of bringing the platform up to European requirements in terms of content moderation.
New obligations for web giants
Two issues mainly occupied his day: the “fake news” law, which aims to fight disinformation on social networks, and the “Digital Services Act” (DSA), which imposes new obligations on web giants. .
Voted by the European authorities at the beginning of the year, the legislation on digital services came into force this November. It forces internet companies, but mainly Gafam and other social networks, to fight against hateful and illegal content, and to properly manage users’ personal data. E-commerce enthusiasts should also be better protected thanks to the DSA.
Regarding false information, Arcom recently reminded Twitter of its content moderation obligations. Following numerous staff cuts, particularly in relation to moderation, the French audiovisual regulator expressed concern that the company’s legal media obligation was no longer met. Especially since Twitter, like Facebook, refuses to fulfill its duty of transparency in its actions to combat misinformation.
These concerns find a sounding board within the European Commission itself. Contrary to Elon Musk’s statements, hate messages have increased on the platform since his arrival.
Less hate content removed in 2022
The European Commission vice-president in charge of values and transparency, Vera Jourova, said she was “concerned” by the numerous layoffs in Europe, including in France.
“Especially in the context of the Russian disinformation war, I expect Twitter to fully comply with European law and honor its commitments. Twitter has been a very useful partner in the fight against misinformation and illegal hate speech and that must not change,” he added. On Thursday, November 24, the European Commission published a report showing that Twitter only removed 45.4% of hateful content from its platform this year. This is a lower score than in 2021, when almost half (49.8%) of the messages had been deleted.
Twitter is underperforming its competitors. On YouTube, nine out of ten inappropriate posts are removed. More than two out of three for Facebook. These figures can only go in the direction of European fears. Especially since Elon Musk dodged his commitment to create a moderation council.
Source: BFM TV
