European Commission warns Elon Musk against allowing Putin's propaganda on Twitter

European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova, who is responsible for efforts to combat online disinformation, has warned billionaire Elon Musk about possible assistance to the Russian regime if Twitter does not root out Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine.

She said this in an interview with Bloomberg, reports European Pravda.

According to Jourova, it is necessary to ensure that Twitter does not become a hub for Russian propaganda.

"By not acting actively against the propaganda, which means to remove the pieces of propaganda, the disinformation, then you are actively supporting the war," she said.

It would be a difficult and potentially dangerous undertaking or adventure for Musk, who wants to be perceived as someone who helps Ukraine, added the European Commission's Vice President. 

"If the network is easily used by Russian propaganda then you are very probably breaching the rules of sanctions because you might be distributing the content developed by the sanctioned media, like Russia Today and Sputnik," Jourova said.

Jourova noted that Musk, who has vowed to bring back "freedom of speech" to Twitter, should not underestimate the EU and the significant sanctions Twitter may face if it does not follow EU rules.

"I feel that there is not enough understanding from Mr Musk and maybe some other people around him, that Europe is advanced.  After many years of thorough analysing how to approach the digital sphere, we decided to regulate, and that we mean it, that the regulation has to be respected by everybody who wants to do business on EU territory," she added.

Twitter is the only platform used by Jourova, who decided to leave Facebook for Meta a few years ago. Now she's considering whether to keep her account after such content as Chinese pornography recently appeared on her feed.

In late November, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, warned Musk that the company must "work hard" to counter disinformation on Twitter to comply with EU rules.

As Reuters reported earlier, Elon Musk privately promised the European Commission that Twitter would comply with the rules of the European Union, including the fight against disinformation.

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