Twitter exits EU disinfo rules

Twitter has opted out of the European Union’s “Code of Practice” by social-media platforms operating within that bloc. Furthermore, if (as scheduled) this “Code” becomes a matter of law, the platform might block itself out of Europe entirely.

Twitter v. the EU

Both Silicon Republic and Business Insider confirm: Elon Musk has taken Twitter out of the “voluntary code of practice.” This code concerns content which EU and EU member-State censors regard as “disinformation.” But the platform does more than allow (at least occasional) content that violates EU rules. Elon Musk, on his own account,l has “trolled” his followers with provocative statements against censorship generally, including this example:

Business Insider and many leftist “fact-check” organizations assert that the quote in the above tweet is misattributed. That is, François Marie Arrouet de Voltaire did not say it. Most observers now attribute the “who rules” quote to Kevin Strom, an American “National Socialist” who denied that the Holocaust ever happened. Still, David Hutt, writing in the Asia Times in 2020, asserted that the proverb itself is no less true. According to Hutt, the identity of one who first coins a true saying, shouldn’t matter.

In any case, that is not the only “trolling” tweet Musk has put out. Consider these:

This last might be the one to which the EU truly objects:

Thierry Breton, Commissioner of the European Union, took exception to the withdrawal and left this tweet:

Reaction was mostly negative.

Translation:

In other words: you are free, but this freedom is fundamentally accessible only insofar as you think totally as we require you to do.

Or literally, “… only in the strict measure in which you think…”

Possible pullout

The Digital Services Act would make this “code of practice” mandatory and exact penalties of as much as 6% of a company’s annual revenues. It goes into full force and effect on August 25, 2023.

According to Rebel News, the DSA names eight platforms, including Twitter, that it will subject to this treatment. The other seven are Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Snapchat.

Andrew Torba at Gab.com has accused the platform of complying with some 85% of censorship requests by authoritarian governments. Torba has blocked Gab from access in certain markets over censorship rules and is ready to do so again.

The organ Euractiv reports that Twitter considers continental Europe a secondary market anyway, the primary market being the USA. Thus, the organ speculates, the company might withdraw from Europe altogether. Opting out of the EU “voluntary code” might be merely the first formal step.

Thus far the incoming CEO whom Musk recently appointed has not commented.