Ireland's DCP Is Satisfied with Twitter's Ability to Protect User Privacy in the European Union

JAKARTA - The main privacy regulator for Twitter in the European Union said it was concerned about the potential impact of layoffs at the social media company on its ability to meet privacy obligations. But they said they had already gotten the answer to that question so far.

Twitter has fired top executives and imposed sharp layoffs with little warning, following billionaire Elon Musk's takeover of the company last month. About half of the workforce or around 3.700 employees have been laid off, while more than 1.000 have also resigned.

Prior to these layoffs, Twitter employed around 500 people in its European headquarters in Dublin where - like many other tech giants - the Irish Data Privacy Commissioner (DPC) is the social media platform's main privacy regulator in the EU.

"We are concerned and we are tracking it closely. So far we have had answers to our questions," the head of the DPC, Helen Dixon, told Irish national media, RTE, Monday, November 28.

The comments follow similar concerns raised last week by the European Union's chief justice around Twitter's ability to comply with tough new rules on illegal online content following a visit to the company's Dublin headquarters.

Dixon said the DPC was in contact with Twitter several times a day to determine what roles remained and had a "range of contacts" still based at Twitter in Dublin.

"This is a fast-evolving situation, I think where we get to a point where we can't get answers and we don't have any points of contact, then we're going to be in very serious trouble," Dixon said.

According to Dixon, at a basic level, organizations like Twitter should have a data protection officer with a team around them, as well as a Dublin-based council that makes decisions about the processing of personal data in relation to EU users.

The watchdog said it may also pursue six investigations into Twitter related to potential privacy breaches that occurred prior to Musk's acquisition.