Elon Musk Is Mulling Twitter Shutdown In Europe
US entrepreneur Elon Musk is increasingly frustrated that he has to comply with EU legislation in Europe with his social media platform Twitter/X. A complete exit from the local market is therefore becoming increasingly likely.
Boss Is Not Interested In a Solution
The billionaire, who bought Twitter a year ago for $44 billion, is considering simply making the platform unavailable in the European Union or blocking access to users in the region, reports Business Insider magazine, citing a source familiar with the company. This could then look similar to the Instagram offshoot Threads.
The main point of contention is the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force in August. The law requires major online platforms, among other things, to have effective and transparent systems for moderating and removing false, misleading, and illegal information and posts.
On the basis of the DSA, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton went on a confrontation course with Musk last week. The trigger for this was the rampant spread of disinformation about the massive terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist Hamas. In the course of proceedings based on the law, a company that violates this law can be fined up to 6 percent of its worldwide turnover.
No Employees In The EU
The conflict between Musk and the EU falls on already prepared ground. Given the high operational costs of the platform, the new Twitter owner had already thought about only offering it in the most lucrative markets. A reduction in the company’s international presence was already under discussion months ago when Musk decided to close almost all of the company’s two dozen global offices. Since the closure of the offices in Paris, Madrid, and Berlin, Twitter/X has effectively no longer had any employees in the EU.
Musk has already met personally with Breton twice this year. The discussions focused on what needed to be done to make Twitter/X DSA compliant. However, the billionaire, who was not particularly willing to compromise, increasingly lost patience – which was also reflected in the pointed reactions to the EU Commissioner’s letters. Musk once explained that he didn’t understand what Brussels was asking of him, and another time he accused the EU of wanting to arrange “backroom deals.”
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