The French government has threatened to have Elon Musk’s Twitter banned from the European Union if it does not comply with regulations against content deemed “disinformation” by state authorities.
“Disinformation is one of the gravest threats weighing on our democracies,” claimed Jean-Noël Barrot, the government minister responsible for “digital transition” and telecommunications in Emmanuel Macron’s France.
“Twitter, if it repeatedly doesn’t follow our rules, will be banned from the EU,” he threatened.
The broadside follows Musk’s move to withdraw Twitter from a supposedly voluntary code of practice on disinformation backed by the European Commission, the unelected body which serves as the EU’s executive as well as the major initiator of EU-level legislation.
Among other things, the code aims to keep social media users “protected from disinformation”, cut off monetization for alleged “purveyors of disinformation”, boost so-called “authoritative sources”, and “empower the fact-checking community“.
“You can run but you can’t hide,” tweeted Commissioner Thierry Breton, another Frenchman, after Musk dropped the code, warning that many of its requirements will become legal obligations in August, when the Digital Services Act (DSA) comes into force across the EU.
