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EU regulators put pressure on Elon Musk's Twitter content moderation

The EU and US have issued warnings to the billionaire over his handling of Twitter.

Donovan Erskine

November 30, 2022 12:35 PM

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Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has been heavily scrutinized since it went through. From firing a large portion of the company’s workforce to altering (or removing) existing policies, there has been increased attention and concern surrounding the social media company. Now, Musk is seeing some added pressure from US and EU regulators due to his outlook on content moderation on Twitter.

The European Commission issued a warning to Twitter and CEO Elon Musk over concerns around content moderation on the platform, as we learned through a Financial Times report. The organization threatened to ban Twitter if it fails to comply with the EU’s rules on content moderation. According to the report, this threat was made directly to Elon Musk himself over a video call with EU commissioner Thierry Breton.

The report goes on to lay out the specific content moderation tools that the EU will require Twitter to follow. This includes moving away from its current approach to reinstating banned users, which was described as “arbitrary.” Earlier this month, Twitter reinstated the accounts of Jordan Peterson, Kathy Griffin, and Donald Trump. They also asked Twitter to strongly pursue disinformation. It’s something that Elon Musk is particularly passionate about, as he often speaks about wanting Twitter to be a completely open forum for discourse with a heavy emphasis on free speech. Lastly, EU regulators would like to conduct an independent audit of Twitter in 2023.

The requirements laid out to Elon Musk and Twitter by EU regulators sharply contradict the direction that the billionaire has been taking the platform. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how he and Twitter respond in the near future. While the United States didn’t issue a similar threat, it does appear that Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is being reviewed by US regulators. For more updates on the situation at Twitter, stick with Shacknews.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_