Twitter leaves Europe – Apparata

It seems that the requirement of the European Commission; that Twitter adheres to European rules is counterproductive.

Twitter office closed in Brussels

Twitter has dissolved its entire office in Brussels. Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa, who are tasked with aligning Twitter policy Europe with the European Commission, left the company, according to five Twitter insiders, the Financial Times reports. It is not clear whether they left voluntarily or whether they were explicitly fired.

Global marketplace of opinions

Twitter is seen as the global marketplace, where everyone around the world can assert their ego. Almost every self-respecting world leader, with the emphatic exception of Putin and Xi, has a Twitter account from which messages are thrown into the world. Less prominent leaders from Russia and China also know how to find Twitter.

The positive result of this is that everyone with an internet connection can talk to each other and mutual enmity is reduced.

Keep in touch worldwide

This is one of the reasons why Elon Musk bought Twitter. He strives to make and maintain this an international, censorship-free platform of ideas. According to him, a large-scale war can only be prevented through the free exchange of ideas, if people keep talking to each other.

A Third World War would indeed have extremely dire consequences for the survival of our species, as in: a nuclear winter in the northern hemisphere for years. This would mean the end of the technological superpowers US, Europe and East Asia. And so to the prospects of colonizing Mars.

European rules rather restrictive

Presumably this is one of the reasons why Musk has decided to close the office in Europe, as well as other offices outside the US. The European Union is more restrictive on freedom of expression than the United States. For example, some sites of the Russian government have been blocked, which can simply be consulted in America.

Europe also sets high standards for content moderation. If Twitter officially becomes an American-only company, this will save Musk some headaches because he will then only have to comply with US law.

European Commission loses all control

The consequence of the closure is that the European Commission, like the responsible Commissioner Věra Jourová, no longer has anything to say about Twitter and that the company no longer cares about Brussels.

The only thing the European Commission can do then is block Twitter, with the result that everyone will use a VPN, and with this censorship the EU will join the illustrious list of the dictatorships of China, Turkmenistan and Iran.