Twitter would be in danger of being blocked in Europe. The wave of layoffs and resignations after the arrival of Elon Musk led to the closure of the Brussels office. This is important, since the personnel that worked there were in charge of complying with the new laws of the European Union that seek to protect the privacy of their users.
In accordance with Financial TimesTwitter dissolved the Brussels office after running out of staff. Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa, Twitter’s digital policy managers in Europe, would have resigned after Elon Musk’s ultimatum. The two managers led Efforts to comply with the Digital Services Law and curb disinformation on European territory.
Sources close to the outlet confirmed that Mozer and La Nasa were the only employees left in Brussels. The first wave of layoffs severely affected the European office, as well as others that are related to governments. Despite the fact that Elon Musk tries to get the company afloat, the situation is complicated on other fronts.
Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, warned a few weeks ago that Twitter should abide by the rules. after the famous tweet “The bird has been released”, posted by Elon Musk, Breton replied “In Europe, the bird will fly by our rules.” The commissioner made reference to the Digital Services Law, which seeks to curb misinformation and the dissemination of illegal content.
Twitter must comply with European laws or pay the consequences
The closure of the Brussels office and the thousands of layoffs have already lit red flags in the regulators. Věra Jourová, EU vice-president in charge of the misinformation code, warned of the negative impact it will have in the future. “If you want to effectively detect and take action against disinformation and propaganda, this requires resources,” she said.
Jourová applauded Twitter’s previous efforts in the fight against hate speech and misinformation, though she fears it may be a thing of the past. The arrival of Elon Musk, a “free speech absolutist” caused dozens of advertisers to leave the platform. Despite the mogul’s recent promise that hate speech would have no reach or monetization, he ultimately restored accounts that promote this kind of content.
Twitter is not only facing problems in critical areas that affect the functioning of the social network. The closure of the Brussels office and the resignation of key employees jeopardize the operation of the platform in Europe. The departure of Damien Kieran, chief privacy officer, caused the company to fail to comply with a basic GDPR requirement in the European Union.
Without Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa, responsible for enforcing the Digital Services Law, Twitter faces fines of up to 6% of the company’s global revenue. In case of repetition, the company you risk a ban to operate on European territory. Although Elon Musk is unlikely to overlook that point, the risk of a veto by the European Union remains.
Elon Musk does not have a good relationship with regulators
Months before the purchase of Twitter was finalized, Elon Musk declared that he would comply with the Digital Services Act. The tycoon met Thierry Breton in May at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin, United States. There he promised to respect the guidelines of legislation that seeks to combat illegal content on the social network.
It’s not a secret that Elon Musk’s relationship with regulators is not the best. “Elon puts rockets into space, he’s not afraid of the FTC,” Twitter lawyer Alex Spiro said in an email sent to company employees. In contrast, the Federal Trade Commission stated that no CEO or company is above the law and they are bound to follow the rules.