Twitter has folded its Brussels office following a wave of company-wide cuts and departures. Although the Brussels office was small, it was perceived as a “crucial conduit to European policymakers,” according to the Financial Times, which was first to report the news.
The last two pillars of the Brussels office, Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa, reportedly left the company last week.
Mozer and La Nasa were in charge of Twitter’s digital policy in Europe, including the compliance to EU’s disinformation code and the Digital Services Act, which aims to limit the spread of illegal content online.
The disbanding of the Brussels office is taking place at a critical time as the Digital Services Act came into effect last week, and EU officials are concerned that Twitter will not abide by these new rules.
“I am concerned about the news of firing such a vast amount of staff of Twitter in Europe,” Věra Jourová, the EU’s VP in charge of the disinformation code, told the Financial Times in a written statement which was later sent to PvNew.
Jourová also said she expects “Twitter to fully respect the EU law and honour its commitments, (…) especially in the context of Russian disinformation warfare.”
She said Twitter has been a “very useful partner in the fight against disinformation and illegal hate speech and this must not change.”
The policymaker warned Twitter that “European laws continue to apply to Twitter, regardless of who is the owner.”
“Musk should not underestimate our determination to bring responsibility and accountability to the big platforms. We, as the EU, will not accept that the European information space is once again easily poisoned by disinformation or Russian propaganda,” Jourová continued.
Other Twitter executives were axed as part of the major layoffs planned by Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk. Roughly a week after acquiring Twitter for $44 billion, Musk geared up to lay off about half of the current workforce of approximately 7,500.
Twitter could not be reached for comment as it doesn’t currently appear to have a media relations team.
