European lawmakers threaten Twitter sanctions on journalist suspensions
BACKLASH against Elon Musk’s suspension of journalists from Twitter has spread among senior European politicians, who have threatened future sanctions.
Some lawmakers also said they could be leaving the platform.
Twitter suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who were covering Musk, the social network’s billionaire owner. Musk alleged that the journalists, from news outlets such as CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times, were endangering his family. He said they had posted his real-time location, and described the information as “basically assassination coordinates”.
European Commission vice-president Vera Jourova said in a tweet that the “arbitrary” suspension was “worrying”. “There are red lines. And sanctions, soon,” she added, citing two European Union (EU) laws – the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Media Freedom Act (MFA) – two major pillars of tech regulation in the region.
The DSA is the EU’s content moderation rulebook, which would ban the arbitrary suspension of accounts. It was passed into law recently, but the compliance process for companies will not start until the middle of next year. Before that, in February, companies such as Twitter will first need to report the number of users they have in the EU.
The MFA was proposed by the European Commission in September, to establish new safeguards for media. The plan is in the early stages of negotiations in the EU institutions.
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The German Federal Foreign Office also voiced its concern – via Twitter. “(Press freedom) must not be switched on and off at will. As of today, the journalists listed below can also no longer follow, comment or criticise us. This means we have a problem,” it said in a tweet, which tagged Elon Musk’s account.
A spokesperson for the Office, Christofer Burger, said: “From our point of view, freedom of the press is an extremely valuable asset that must be defended when it is called into question.”
Twitter has drawn criticism from the German government since Musk’s purchase of the platform. Christiane Hoffman, a spokesperson for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said on Friday (Dec 16) that the government was observing Twitter “with growing concern”. She added that it is evaluating its policy on using the platform.
Meanwhile, in France, the minister in charge of industry, Roland Lescure, tweeted on Friday that he would suspend his account. “Following the suspension of journalists’ accounts by (Musk), I am suspending all activity on Twitter until further notice”, he wrote.
The French digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot tweeted that he was “distressed by the drift in which Elon Musk precipitates Twitter”.
Although Europe currently has little power to penalise Musk for suspending journalists, he will soon have to contend with a litany of new rules for how he handles posts under the DSA. The law will require platforms to take down illegal content and take more action against harmful content.
Under the law, platforms will also need content moderators to handle content in different EU languages. While user accounts may be restricted or blocked, users will have to be informed, and platforms must set out the grounds for such action, based on terms of use. Users must also be able to appeal platforms’ decisions.
Before taking over Twitter, Musk spoke openly against arbitrary or indefinite bans on users, especially taking aim at the platform for banning former US president Donald Trump. These bans were also viewed critically by EU politicians at the time, including former German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Musk has reinstated Trump, along with right-wing commentators who were banned by Twitter’s previous leadership. Rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, was initially reinstated as well. But he was banned again after tweeting a swastika. BLOOMBERG
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