Big tech billionaire and Twitter owner Elon Musk has pulled Twitter out of an ‘ant-disinformation’ agreement that masks itself as an insidious censorship project.
Twitter has pulled out of the European Union’s voluntary code of practice regarding online disinformation as the company’s owner continues posting content that could be flagged under a forthcoming EU law.The social media site’s withdrawal from the EU’s agreement on disinformation could signal owner Elon Musk is preparing to cease operations in Europe entirely, Euractiv reported, as a new law — the Digital Services Act (DSA)— is set to take effect in August. The law, which establishes requirements for monitoring and flagging disinformation, would make the now voluntary agreement mandatory for large social media sites.An EU official told Euractiv they were “waiting for this” and “it was purely a matter of time” before Musk withdrew from the agreement.
European officials are behaving exactly as you would expect.
“Twitter leaves EU voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation. But obligations remain,” EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote on Twitter.”You can run but you can’t hide. Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under #DSA as of August 25. Our teams will be ready for enforcement,” Breton added, referring to the EU’s new Digital Services Act which takes effect in less than two months.
A French official was particularly stringent in his threats to the social media platform.
France’s Digital Minister Jean-Noël Barrot waded into a growing tussle between the European Union and Elon Musk’s Twitter on Monday, as he threatened the social media platform’s access to the bloc.In comments made on radio network France Info, the minister said that the U.S. company would be banned from the EU if it refused to follow the incoming European Digital Services Act, which goes into effect throughout the EU at the end of August.”Disinformation is one of the gravest threats weighing on our democracies,” said Barrot. “Twitter, if it repeatedly doesn’t follow our rules, will be banned from the EU,” the French minister added.
As someone who has been batting narrative-science-based information on a number of subjects, I heartily endorse this observation.
Given the amount of flak he is taking, Musk is right over the target. Open debate, exchanges of a variety of ideas, and expressions of opinion are not “disinformation”.
When individual thought is seen as a threat, those who threaten it are the ones who are the real danger to freedom and liberty.
As we discovered with covid, and as we are experiencing with the climate crisis agenda, bad policy based on disinformation dressed up in narrative science is destructive, results in death and misery, and its effects can last long after the policymakers have left office.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY