France Threatens to Ban Twitter Under ‘Disinformation’ Law

On Monday, France's Minister for Digital Transition and Telecommunications Jean-Noel Barrot threatened to ban Twitter in Europe if the social media platform does not comply with new EU rules designed to combat what Brussels considers disinformation.

"A regulation will take effect on August 25 that requires big social media platforms to take action against disinformation … I want Twitter to come in compliance by August 25 with the new EU rules that we have adopted. If not, it will no longer be welcome in Europe," Barrot told France Info Radio.

Asked if he was alluding to a blanket ban, the minister said if Twitter does not abide by the rules, the EU will ban it if the offense is repeated.

Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, pulled the popular micro-blogging site last week from a voluntary EU law to combat "disinformation".

European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has warned that Twitter will still be bound by the EU's Digital Services Act, which targets platforms with more than 45 million monthly active users.

In February, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed concern that Twitter's policies under Musk would harm efforts to combat disinformation and manipulation, including by removing free access to APIs.

In October 2018, following a proposal by the European Commission, major IT companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Twitter signed the Code of Practice on Disinformation, which outlines concrete commitments and actions that signatories undertake to take to combat misinformation online.