Social media platform Twitter, owned by Elon Musk, has left the European Union's voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation, announced European Commissioner Thierry Breton reported on Twitter.
The Code of Practice on disinformation has existed since 2018 and was strengthened in 2022. It essentially concerns a voluntary code of conduct for major internet platforms.
Earlier this year, the European Commission was already critical of Twitter for being the only signatory to file an incomplete activity report and providing little to no information on how it plans to counter influence by foreign actors and tackle disinformation.
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From the end of August, the biggest platforms and search engines must comply with the new European Digital Services Act (DSA) requirements. This will also be the case for Twitter, which will then fall directly under the supervision of the European Commission.
"Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be a legal obligation under the DSA as of 25 August. Our teams will be ready for enforcement," said Breton on Twitter. "You can run but you can’t hide."
The DSA must better protect internet users from harmful content, advertising and privacy violations. The legislation makes it easier to tackle companies that let child pornography, inflammatory and hateful content or disinformation proliferate.
Supervision will become tighter and it will be harder to escape punishment.
