Twitter hit with EU yellow card for lack of transparency on disinformation
Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)
The European Commission, which is tasked with tackling disinformation online, this week expressed disappointment that Twitter has failed to provide required data that all other major platforms submitted. Now Twitter has been hit with a "yellow card," Reuters reported, and could be subjected to fines if the platform doesn't fully comply with European Union commitments by this June.
We must have more transparency and cannot rely on the online platforms alone for the quality of information," the commission's vice president of values and transparency, Vra Jourova, said in a press release. They need to be independently verifiable. I am disappointed to see that Twitter['s] report lags behind others, and I expect a more serious commitment to their obligations."
Earlier this month, the EU's commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, met with Twitter CEO Elon Musk to ensure that Musk understood what was expected of Twitter under the EU's new Digital Services Act (DSA). After their meeting, Musk tweeted that the EU's goals of transparency, accountability & accuracy of information are aligned" with Twitter's goals. But he also indicated that Twitter would be relying on Community Notes, which let users add context to potentially misleading tweets to satisfy DSA requirements on stopping misinformation and disinformation spread. That process seems to be the issue the commission has with Twitter's unsatisfactory report.