Closure of Twitter office raises regulatory concerns in Brussels

Fresh concerns over Twitter’s ability to comply with stringent European Union regulation emerged on Thursday, after it emerged that its entire Brussels office had left the company.

According to the Financial Times, Dario La Nasa and Julia Moser left the company last week, after new owner Elon Musk issued his ultimatum to all employees to commit to a “hardcore working culture”.

It said the pair were in charge of Twitter’s digital policy and compliance in Europe, including its adherence to GDPR and its new Digital Services Act, which came into force last week and polices Big Tech’s relationship with users.

Other executives in the small Brussels office departed earlier in the month, the FT said, when Twitter cut around half of its 7,500 global staff just days after Musk’s acquisition was completed.

The newspaper said it was not clear whether La Nasa and Moser resigned or were made redundant, with neither executive or Twitter itself offering any comment on the matter.

“I am concerned about the news of firing such a vast amount of staff of Twitter in Europe,” said vice-president of the European Commission for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová in comments to the FT.

“If you want to effectively detect and take action against disinformation and propaganda, this requires resources.”

Jourová said that in the context of Russian disinformation warfare, she expected Twitter to “fully respect” EU law.

“Twitter has been a very useful partner in the fight against disinformation and illegal hate speech and this must not change.”

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.