Backlash against Elon Musk suspending journalists from Twitter Inc. has spread among senior European politicians, with threats of future sanctions and lawmakers leaving the platform.
(Bloomberg) — Backlash against Elon Musk suspending journalists from Twitter Inc. has spread among senior European politicians, with threats of future sanctions and lawmakers leaving the platform.
“News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” said Commission Vice President Vera Jourova in a tweet. “There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”
Twitter suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists — including from the Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times — covering the social network’s billionaire owner Elon Musk, who alleged they were endangering his family. Musk said the suspended profiles were of people who had posted his real-time location, describing the information as “basically assassination coordinates.“
Jourova — one of the EU’s more senior officials — cited the Digital Services Act and the Media Freedom Act, two major pillars of European tech regulation. The DSA — the EU’s content moderation rulebook which would ban arbitrary suspensions of accounts — was made law in the fall, but companies won’t start the compliance process until the summer. Companies like Twitter first have to report the number of users they have in the EU in February.
The European Commission proposed the Media Freedom Act in September to establish new safeguards for media. The plan is in the early stages of negotiations in the EU institutions.
The German Foreign Ministry also voiced its concern — via Twitter, stating that ““#PressFreedom must not be switched on and off at will. As of today, the journalists listed below can also no longer follow, comment or criticize us. This means we have a problem @Twitter.”
Twitter has drawn criticism from the German government since Musk’s purchase of the platform. In a press conference on Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s chief spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit said the government is in the process of evaluating its policy on using the platform.
The French minister in charge of industry Roland Lescure tweeted on Friday morning that he would suspend his account. “Following the suspension of journalists’ accounts by @elonmusk, I am suspending all activity on @Twitter until further notice”, he wrote. The French digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot tweeted he was “distressed by the drift in which Elon Musk precipitates Twitter”.
–With assistance from Agatha Cantrill, Benoit Berthelot and Stephanie Bodoni.
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