LONDON (AP) — Twitter has dropped out of a voluntary European Union agreement to combat on the web disinformation, a leading EU official mentioned Friday.
European Commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted that Twitter had pulled out of the EU’s disinformation “code of practice” that other main social media platforms have pledged to assistance. But he added that Twitter’s “obligation” remained, referring to the EU’s hard new digital guidelines taking impact in August.
“You can run but you can not hide,” Breton mentioned.
San Francisco-primarily based Twitter responded with an automated reply, as it does to most press inquiries, and did not comment.
The choice to abandon the commitment to fighting false info seems to be the most up-to-date move by billionaire owner Elon Musk to loosen the reins on the social media enterprise just after he purchased it final year. He has rolled back preceding anti-misinformation guidelines, and has thrown its verification method and content material-moderation policies into chaos as he pursues his aim of turning Twitter into a digital town square.
Google, TikTok, Microsoft and Facebook and Instagram parent Meta are amongst these that have signed up to the EU code, which needs providers to measure their perform on combating disinformation and problem typical reports on their progress.
There had been currently indicators Twitter wasn’t ready to reside up to its commitments. The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, blasted Twitter earlier this year for failing to deliver a complete initially report beneath the code, saying it supplied tiny particular info and no targeted information.
Breton mentioned that beneath the new digital guidelines that incorporate the code of practice, fighting disinformation will turn into a “legal obligation.”
“Our teams will be prepared for enforcement,” he mentioned.
Copyright 2023 The Linked Press. All rights reserved. This material may well not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
