EU: Twitter report lacks intel on disinformation
Company agreed to code before Musk’s purchase
LONDON – Twitter failed to provide a full report to the European Union on its efforts to combat online disinformation, drawing a rebuke Thursday from top officials of the 27-nation bloc.
The company signed on to the EU’s voluntary 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation last year – before billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought the social media platform.
All who signed on to the code, including online platforms, ad-tech companies and civil society, agreed to commit to measures aimed at reducing disinformation. They filed their first “baseline” reports last month showing how they’re living up to their promises.
Google, TikTok and Microsoft, as well as Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, showed “strong commitment to the reporting,” providing unprecedented detail about how they’re putting into action their pledges to fight false information, according to the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. But Twitter “provided little specific information and no targeted data,” it said.
“I am disappointed to see that Twitter report lags behind others and I expect a more serious commitment to their obligations stemming from the Code,” Vera Jourova, the commission’s executive vice president for values and transparency, said in a statement. “Russia is engaged also in a full-blown disinformation war and the platforms need to live up to their responsibilities.”
In its baseline report, Twitter said it’s “making real advancements across the board” at fighting disinformation. The
document came in at 79 pages, shorter than those filed by Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok.
Twitter did not respond to a request for further comment. The company’s press office was shut down and its communications team laid off after Musk bought it last year. Others whose job it was to keep harmful information off the platform have been laid off or quit.
EU leaders have grown alarmed about fake information thriving on online platforms. Last year, the code was strengthened by connecting it with the upcoming Digital Services Act, new rules aimed at getting Big Tech companies to clean up their platforms or face big fines.
But there are concerns about what shows up on Twitter after Musk ended enforcement of its policy against COVID-19 misinformation and dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, which advised on problems like hate speech and
other harmful content.
An EU evaluation done last spring before Musk bought Twitter and released in November found the platform took longer to review hateful content and removed less of it in 2022 compared with the previous year. Most other tech companies signed up for the voluntary code also scored worse.
Those signed on to the EU code have to fill out a checklist to measure their work on fighting disinformation, covering efforts to prevent fake news purveyors from benefiting from advertising revenue; the number of political ads labeled or rejected; examples of manipulative behavior such as fake accounts; and information on the impact of fact-checking.
Twitter’s report was “short of data, with no information on commitments to empower the fact-checking community,” the commission said.