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France threatens to ban US social media network in EU over disinformation rules

Tuesday, 30 May 2023 7:03 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 30 May 2023 7:31 PM ]

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France has threatened to ban Twitter from the European Union if the American social media network fails to abide by new disinformation regulations in the bloc.

On Tuesday, France's Digital Transition and Telecommunications Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the European bloc could not take the risk of a network such as Twitter because it is what he called a hub of disinformation supporters.

"Disinformation is one of the gravest threats weighing on our democracies,” he said on French radio network France Info, warning, "Twitter, if it repeatedly doesn’t follow our rules, will be banned from the EU."

The EU’s incoming Digital Services Act, which enforces new rules on social media, will go into effect on August 25.

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Barrot’s threat comes two days after the EU Internal Market Commissioner announced that Elon Musk’s Twitter had withdrawn from the bloc’s voluntary code to curb disinformation online, which other Silicon Valley companies like Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, Google and Microsoft have pledged to follow.

Musk has time and again claimed in interviews that now there is less misinformation on Twitter since he bought the site for $44 billion back in October.

All sites found in violation of the Digital Services Act face fines of up to six percent of the site’s annual revenue.

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