Germany is watching developments at Twitter Inc. “with growing concern” and reviewing its presence on the platform, including potentially shutting down Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s handle.
(Bloomberg) — Germany is watching developments at Twitter Inc. “with growing concern” and reviewing its presence on the platform, including potentially shutting down Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s handle.
Scholz’s chief spokesman Steffen Hebestreit was quizzed about the government’s Twitter policy at a regular news conference Friday and said closing Scholz’s @Bundeskanzler account “can be one step but won’t necessarily be the final decision.”
“We have to observe the very dynamic developments on this platform and then draw our conclusions,” Hebestreit, who has his own official handle @RegSprecher, told reporters.
Separately, Spain’s deputy prime minister, Nadia Calvino, said they could leave the platform under certain circumstances. “We will continue to use Twitter, but if eventually it doesn’t supply the necessary security in terms of information, there will be other platforms that will fill that gap,” she told reporters in Madrid.
Twitter said on Thursday it was temporarily closing its offices after Elon Musk issued employees an ultimatum to either stay with the company “working long hours at high intensity” or quit with three months’ severance pay.
Musk laid off half the company’s workforce after taking over, before having to ask some of them to return, raising concerns about the company’s viability.
Germany’s Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information already deleted its Twitter account @BfDI_info this month, saying it hadn’t been able to satisfactorily complete a legal-compliance audit.
It also referred in a press release to “non-transparent developments” surrounding Musk’s takeover and said it would focus on its presence on micro-blogging service Mastodon.
The concerns regarding Twitter are prompting users to explore other services such as German social network Mastodon, the EU’s tech chief Margrethe Vestager said.
“This is a chance for people to explore what is out there because there is more to our digital life,” Vestager said at a press briefing in Madrid.
–With assistance from Chris Reiter.
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