Twitter Chose Confrontation on EU Disinformation Code

On Friday, May 26th 2023, Twitter made the decision to withdraw from a voluntary European Union agreement to combat online disinformation. This agreement was known as the Code of Practice against Disinformation and was set up by the European Commission in 2018.

The code of practice was created in order to help regulate and monitor online content in an effort to reduce the spread of false information. It required companies such as Twitter to take responsibility for their content and adhere to certain standards when it came to moderating user-generated content.

However, Twitter chose to opt out of this agreement due to concerns over how it could potentially limit freedom of expression on the platform. In response, Vera Jourova, Vice President for Values and Transparency at the European Commission said that “Twitter chose confrontation instead of constructive cooperation”.

This decision has been met with criticism from many who feel that this is a step backwards in terms of regulating online content and preventing the spread of false information. It remains unclear what impact this will have on other social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube who are still part of the code of practice against disinformation.