French regulator Arcom has announced that it has written to Twitter, seeking reassurance it is able to fulfil its legal obligations following mass layoffs at the social media firm.
Elon Musk fired half of Twitter’s workforce shortly after completing his $44bn acquisition of the company last month, also terminating agreements with thousands of contract workers, which has led to concerns from regulators around the world over the firm’s ability to comply with privacy and transparency regulations.
“Arcom would like to express its deep concern about the direct consequences of such decisions on Twitter’s ability to maintain a safe environment for its users,” Arcom president Roch-Olivier Maistre said in the letter, which was published in a statement by the regulator.
Twitter is one of the most widely used online platforms in France, which presents questions around democratic discourse and public safety,
“In this respect, Twitter is subject in particular to obligations, which Arcom is responsible for ensuring are properly applied,” the regulator added.
It noted that Twitter must combat the manipulation of information in accordance with a 2018 law that obliges cooperation with Arcom.
The regulator said that Twitter had until November 24th to reply.