Twitter Threatened With Fines If Resigning From EU Code Of Practice To Overcome Disinformation

JAKARTA - Twitter is likely to back down from the EU's voluntary code of practice to address disinformation, but this move doesn't mean they will leave Europe. This was said by an EU official on Thursday, May 25.

The European Commission strengthened the code last year, requiring companies to submit regular progress reports with data on how much ad revenue they managed to avoid from disinformation actors.

New obligations include providing information about the amount or value of political advertising received or rejected as well as incidents of manipulative behavior detected.

Twitter has given signs that it will come out of the code, EU officials said, adding that this makes no big difference as the company recently did little effort.

"This just means that they will not attend meetings and do not issue reports. They still have legal obligations," the official said, referring to the latest technology regulations connected to the code of practice.

"They will not leave Europe," the official said. Twitter itself did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

To note, violations of this technology regulation can make companies subject to fines of up to 6% of their global turnover. If Twitter withdraws from its mandatoryity, then the threat of a 6% fine from its turnover globally could put the company in trouble.

Companies that have signed up for this code of practice include Alphabet's Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and TikTok.