E.U. calls out Twitter for incomplete disinformation report

Twitter has failed to provide a full report to the European Union on its efforts to combat online disinformation, drawing a rebuke from top officials of the 27-nation bloc

Twitter failed to provide a full report to the European Union on its efforts to combat online disinformation, drawing a rebuke Thursday from top officials of the 27-nation bloc.

The company signed up to the EU's voluntary 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation last year — before billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought the social media platform.

All who signed up to the code, including online platforms, ad-tech companies and civil society, agreed to commit to measures aimed at reducing disinformation. They filed their first “baseline” reports last month showing how they're living up to their promises.

Google, TikTok, Microsoft as well as Facebook and Instagram parent Meta showed “strong commitment to the reporting,” providing unprecedented detail about how they're putting into action their pledges to fight false information, according to the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. Twitter, however, “provided little specific information and no targeted data," it said.

“I am disappointed to see that Twitter report lags behind others and I expect a more serious commitment to their obligations stemming from the Code,” Vera Jourova, the commission's executive vice president for values and transparency, said in a statement. “ Russia is engaged also in a full-blown disinformation war and the platforms need to live up to their responsibilities.”

In its baseline report, Twitter said it's "making real advancements across the board" at fighting disinformation. The document came in at 79 pages, at least half the length of those filed by Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok.

Twitter did not respond to a request for further comment. The social media company’s press office was shut down and its communications team laid off after Musk bought it last year. Others whose job it was to keep harmful information off the platform have been laid off or quit.