LONDON — Elon Musk’s decision to suspend several well-known journalists from Twitter drew condemnation not just in the United States, but further afield, where the backlash from the decision in Europe has highlighted what could be an impending showdown with the billionaire.
Continent leaders lined up to criticize the move on Friday, adding to domestic pressure on Twitter’s new owner and signaling that his push to remake the social media platform could leave him on course for a clash with the Europe’s tough new rules targeting Big Tech.
Musk reinstated suspended journalists early Saturday after a Twitter poll, but he had already drawn criticism from the European Union and the United Nations.
“Media freedom is not a toy,” Melissa Fleming, the UN’s head of global communications, said in a tweet on Friday, adding that she was “deeply disturbed” by the site’s suspension of journalists.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry tweeted that ‘freedom of the press cannot be turned on and off on a whim’, while French Industry Minister Roland Lescure tweeted on Friday morning that he would suspend his account in protest until further notice. .. have been made since.
‘red lines’
However, perhaps the most notable backlash has been the backlash from senior officials in the EU, the 27-nation bloc that is taking an increasingly tough stance on regulating the online space.
The EU Digital Services Act requires respect for media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced by our #MediaFreedomAct,” European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová said in a post on Twitter.
“There are red lines,” she said, “and soon sanctions.”
The Digital Services Act will introduce a sweeping new set of rules designed to limit the power of tech companies and promote internet users’ “fundamental online rights”. Coming into force in 2024, it will make platforms and search engines more accountable for illegal and harmful content online, including hate speech, scams and misinformation.
“Platforms will in particular have to ensure that their terms and conditions are clear, understandable and transparent, and respect media freedomA spokesperson for Jourová told NBC News in an emailed statement.
“They cannot be arbitrary or discriminatory in their decisions,” they added. Failure to comply in the case of very large online platforms and search engines would result in fines of up to 6% of the company’s global turnover, according to Joourová’s office.
“As rogue platforms refuse to comply with important obligations and thus endanger the lives and safety of people, it will be possible as a last resort to ask a court for a temporary suspension of their service, after involving all the parties concerned. “, they added.
That broad mandate ensured that Friday was not the first time Musk had drawn EU ire for his handling of Twitter.
Following internal disputes within the company in November, senior EU official Thierry Breton warned Musk that to comply with the bloc’s content moderation laws, “Twitter will need to implement transparent usage policies. , significantly strengthen content moderation and protect free speech, fight misinformation with determination, and limit targeted advertising,” according to a conference call transcript released by his office.
Musk also came under fire from European regulators when the company tried to replicate the summary dismissal practices of its “hardcore” Twitter rebrand with mass layoffs at its European headquarters in Dublin.
But despite the strong rhetoric, experts warned the EU could struggle to enforce its laws and hold Musk accountable for content moderation and free speech as vigorously as he has been warned.
“All you have to do is look at the EU’s approach to Hungary and Poland, where both countries are eroding democracy and liberal values. Any kind of application can take years,” said Joseph Downing, senior lecturer in politics and international relations at the Center for Europe at Aston University.
Elon Musk and Twitter are nimble. He can wake up one morning and snap his fingers, and at 4 a.m. the world has changed,” he added. “The EU can condemn him, they can look at the laws and have a discussion, and months or years later.”
Musk accused reporters of sharing private information about his whereabouts, which he described as “essentially assassination coordinates.” Several of the suspended journalists had written about it Twitter’s latest rule change regarding accounts that follow private jets and Musk’s rationale for imposing it, which involved allegations about a harassment incident that he said affected his family.
“The European legal arsenal is not sufficient to oppose acts of arbitrary censorship,” said Ricardo Gutiérrez, secretary general of the European Federation of Journalists.
“While platforms are ubiquitous in everyday life, governance at the scale of their activities is incomplete and insufficient,” he added.
EU officials also felt they add more than 100 full-time employees by 2024 to enforce the Digital Services Act and other new digital competition rules. Member countries will also have to hire more people to police smaller platforms and coordinate with Brussels.
But the legislation is more designed to ensure that social media companies remove harmful content rather than requiring specific content to remain – even when that content comes from news services, according to Downing.
“The Digital Services Act is not prepared for this kind of problem, because it is not designed for this,” Downing said, referring to Thursday’s comments from industry reporters.
“There was never a concept that journalists would be banned from Twitter because that’s not what Twitter does,” he added.
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