A European commissioner threatens to impose fines on Twitter and shut it down in Europe

UNHCR staff will conduct a stress test at Twitter headquarters in early 2023. Archives

The European Commissioner for Internal Market Affairs, Terry Breton, threatened to impose financial fines on the Twitter platform, and other measures, unless the platform complied with European Union laws.

In statements to the newspapers of the German “Fonke” media group issued yesterday, and the French newspaper “Oh France”, Breton said: “It is very clear:” If (Twitter) does not adhere to these rules, we can impose fines, and if the rules continue to be violated, we can close the platform. in Europe".

Breton added: «No one should deceive himself, we will do this when necessary.

This is the great desire of our democratic systems.

And the European official continued, “We are closely following what is happening on (Twitter) since Elon Musk acquired it,” announcing that he will hold another meeting with Musk before Christmas.

Breton said, “Laws related to digital markets and digital services provide effective means to curb the spread of lies and hate.

And (Twitter) must meet these criteria if it wants to operate in the European market.

Musk has consistently stated his intention to remove what he saw as strong restrictions on freedom of opinion on the platform.

On the other hand, critics fear that this step will encourage hate speech and incitement on Twitter.

Musk stopped working on some algorithms in Twitter, including mechanisms for preventing misinformation about the Corona virus.

The Digital Services Regulations aim, among other things, to ensure that platforms remove illegal content from their pages more quickly.

These instructions apply as of mid-February 2024 throughout the European Union.

UNHCR staff will conduct a stress test at Twitter headquarters in early 2023.