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Germany pressures Twitter to commit to censorship law

Germany is one of the most censorship-prone in the European Union.

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In a Digital Committee hearing of German’s federal parliament (the Bundestag) Twitter was accused of failing to provide answers about the implementation of German’s Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) and efforts to comply with the upcoming censorship law, the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Twitter’s head of Europe Global Government Affairs Ronan Costello said that even before Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, AI identified 65% of all content flagged for removal.

However, he could not say, among other things, the number of Twitter employees still remaining in Germany and the number of accounts unblocked since Musk took over. Costello said the answers would be provided later, reports stated.

The members of parliament were skeptical about Twitter complying with the requirements of NetzDG, especially because of Musk’s decision to lay off about half of Twitter’s staff. However, Costello insisted that Twitter was committed to complying with the law. He insisted the platform was more transparent, noting that the latest transparency report contained more data required by the NetzDG than in the same period the previous year.

Costello also said that the “Community Notes” tool, which allows other Twitter users to fact-check misleading content by providing more context, will soon launch in Europe. In the US, the toll has over 20,000 users

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