JAKARTA - Twitter's decision to close its representative offices in Brussels and lay off thousands of employees has raised concerns over whether the company could comply with the new EU's strict rules against illegal online content. This question came from the head of justice for the European Union, Didier Reynders, on Thursday, November 24.
According to an EU official, Reynders, who met with Twitter representatives at the headquarters of a European social media platform in Dublin, asked for clarification from the company.
"The Twitter representative reaffirmed the company's commitment to ensuring full compliance with EU rules. Commissioner Reynders noted it and asked Twitter to make this commitment a real action," said an official who did not want to be called his identity to Reuters.
New rules known as the Digital Services Act, which will take effect from February 2024, require online platforms to do more to monitor the internet against illegal content or risk a fine of as much as 6% of their annual global turnover.
Twitter has fired top executives and imposed sharp layoffs with little warning following the takeover of the company by billionaire Elon Musk last month. Half of the workforce, about 3,700 employees, have been laid off while more than 1,000 have stepped down.
According to an anonymous source, the last two employees of Twitter based in Brussels are no longer working with the company. Teams interacting with Commission officials regarding policy and regulatory issues, initially amounted to six people.
Reynders also warned Twitter and other tech companies to do more to tackle online hate speech after the latest data showed they had removed less content like that this year than in previous years.
Meanwhile, Twitter has also met a deadline Thursday November 24 to respond to French communications regulator Arcom about whether the company can fulfill its legal obligations.
Arcom sent a letter last Monday to Twitter asking if they could fulfill their legal obligations to ensure transparent information despite sharp layoffs at the company.
"Twitter responded to our letter," an Arcom spokesman said. "We will analyze their response. The dialogue continues."
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