The European Union has threatened Elon Musk’s Twitter with a ban until the billionaire abides by its strict guidelines on content material moderation, establishing a regulatory battle over the way forward for the social media platform, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

EU business chief Thierry Breton made the menace throughout a video assembly with Musk on Wednesday, the FT reported, citing folks with information of the dialog.

Breton advised Musk he should adhere to a guidelines of guidelines, together with ditching an “arbitrary” method to reinstating banned customers and agreeing to an “extensive independent audit” of the platform by subsequent yr, based on the report.

Twitter and the EU didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ requests for remark.

Breton had beforehand urged Musk to adjust to landmark EU guidelines towards on-line hate speech and disinformation. The European Commission’s justice chief Didier Reynders had additionally voiced related feedback.

Reuters reported in October that Elon Musk had assured the European Commission that Twitter will proceed to abide by powerful European guidelines on unlawful on-line content material policing now the social community has handed below his possession.

The assurances from Musk appeared to recommend a realistic angle from the CEO of electrical automotive maker Tesla, who has beforehand expressed his need to see Twitter have fewer limits on content material that may be posted.

In May this yr, EU business chief Thierry Breton met Musk in Texas and the 2 signalled settlement on EU digital media regulation forward of Musk’s buy of Twitter.

The earlier assembly got here weeks after the world’s richest man clinched a deal to purchase the social media firm for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,40,270 crore) in money.

In a video with the 2 males posted on Twitter by Breton, the EU official tells Musk that he defined the Digital Services Act to Musk. “It fits pretty well with what you think we should do,” Breton tells Musk in a tweet that included the hashtag #DSA.

“I think it’s exactly aligned with my thinking,” Musk responds.

The two didn’t go into element on the brand new regulation, which levies hefty fines on corporations if they don’t management unlawful content material. The guidelines ban promoting aimed toward kids or based mostly on faith, gender, race, and political views, for instance.

© Thomson Reuters 2022