Elon Musk has pulled Twitter out of the European Union’s Code of Practice on online disinformation, according to the EU.
The development was announced by Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner, on Twitter last week. The commissioner remarked, “Obligations remain. You can run, but you can’t hide.”
Breton added that fighting disinformation will be a legal obligation for Twitter under the Digital Services Act (DSA) from August 25. “Our teams will be ready for enforcement.”
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
The DSA obliges tech corporations to put in greater efforts to combat illegal online content.
Twitter has not yet commented on its withdrawal from the voluntary EU disinformation code, raising concerns surrounding the future of its approach to managing potentially harmful content on the troubled platform. Under Musk’s management, Twitter has already laid off key human rights, content moderation, and accountability teams, leaving a large number of users on their own to identify and combat misinformation and disinformation.
Several leading social media corporations, including Facebook’s parent organisation Meta, Google, and TikTok, are signed up to the EU’s Code of Practice on online disinformation. The code was rolled out in June 2022 to address the exploitation of disinformation, enhance transparency, and curb the proliferation of bot accounts and malicious profiles.
Tech companies that endorse the code can choose which commitments to follow, such as collaborating with fact-checking organisations and monitoring political advertisements. Due to repeated staff reductions at Twitter following Musk’s $44 billion acquisition, content moderation has hit an all-time low, with critics and digital rights experts ascribing the rising levels of disinformation on the platform to the removal of key moderation teams at the firm.
According to reports, teams specifically dedicated to classifying and countering disinformation on Twitter either resigned or were laid off after Musk took over the platform. The billionaire’s controversial decision to reinstate previously banned accounts has also emboldened malicious actors, according to research, and allowed hate speech, harassment, and misinformation to spread unchecked.
Musk has repeatedly denied reports of rising hate speech and disinformation under his management, claiming it has significantly declined. The large volume of research released by various academic and civil society organisations, however, clearly indicates that Twitter is struggling with information disinformation and other forms of potentially harmful content with its reigns in the billionaire’s hands, prompting several advertisers and high-profile users to quit the platform.
