The European Union and the United States are putting pressure on Twitter. The European Commission has told CEO Elon Musk that Twitter must hire more staff for moderation.
The Federal Trade Commission reports that it is intensifying an ongoing investigation into Twitter in the US.
Both the Financial Times and New York Times report this based on sources. The European Commission is concerned that Twitter cannot meet its moderation obligations. In concrete terms, this involves checking messages and removing content that violates guidelines. However, also consider fact checks.
The European Commission wants Twitter to hire more staff for this. However, this is at odds with the current policy of the social media company. Since new owner Elon Musk came to power, many of Twitter’s staff have been laid off. In addition, the number of moderators has also been reduced.
How many employees are currently engaged in content moderation at Twitter is unknown. Furthermore, according to the European Commission, it is also unknown how many people the company should hire to perform these tasks.
Twitter is also under scrutiny in the US. For example, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it will intensify an ongoing investigation into Twitter. That investigation revolves around whether Twitter has sufficient “adequate resources” to guarantee users’ privacy. That study also revolves around whether Twitter has enough staff available for this task after the extensive rounds of layoffs it has implemented.
The FTC wants to interrogate Musk himself in the investigation and several former employees who worked with security and privacy. The FTC also wants to map Musk’s management structure and role. Musk previously announced that he wants to pass on the baton as CEO of Twitter to a successor in the short term. However, a successor has not yet been announced.
