Twitter Office in Brussels is Now Lifeless, Thanks to EU Laws

Elon Musk sacked the entire Twitter office in Brussels due to the political obstacles

Elon Musk's intentions to transform Twitter into a refuge for free expression may face the most political stumbling blocks in the European Union, where he must battle with the EU's new Digital Services Act, which requires corporations to remove unlawful information. Now Twitter office in Brussels is empty and lifeless.

Musk has stated that he will adhere to the country's EU Laws specifically, reassuring concerned EU officials that he will adhere to the DSA but this will be difficult in practice given the lack of staff available to moderate content. It won't be any simpler in Brussels, the EU's legislative capital, the Twitter office is lifeless now. Twitter office in Brussels is closed and laying off hundreds of people raises worries about the company's ability to comply with new stringent European Union laws against illicit online material, said EU Justice Chief Didier Reynders recently. These rules will apply from 2024.

The new Digital Services Act requires Internet platforms to do more to regulate the internet for unlawful content or face fines of up to 6% of their annual global revenue.

Following billionaire Elon Musk's controversial purchase of Twitter last month, Twitter has ousted key executives and imposed severe employment layoffs with little notice. Approximately half of the staff – approximately 3,700 individuals – has been laid off, while another 1,000 have quit.

Twitter's final two Brussels-based workers have left the firm, according to a source familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Reuters. Initially, the team of six employees dealt with Commission officials on policy and regulatory matters. Reynders also urged Twitter and other digital companies to do more to combat online hate speech after new data revealed that they deleted less content this year than in prior years.

Musk was a controversial Twitter speaker — he was sued for defamation after calling a British caver a "pedo guy" (Musk won), the US SEC sued him for tweets about taking Tesla Inc. private (Musk settled), he tweeted a Nazi meme (then deleted it), and posted false information about an attack on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband (Musk settled).

While most, if not all, of these, would not have violated the DSA, it has made politicians more aware of the likelihood that they were foreshadowing what was to come.