NGOs urge EU Commission to review security implications of Twitter “take-over” citing global security, data security, and privacy concerns

Given the alarming implications for democracy and security of the take-over of Twitter by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, Defend Democracy has sent an urgent letter to the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament. The letter, sent to the European institutions on Sunday 30 October 2022, has been signed by 12 European civil society organizations so far, and is open for other European CSOs to sign on. As civil society organizations committed to supporting, strengthening and defending democracy, we have three key concerns about the take-over of Twitter:

• the implications for global security
• the implications for online standards and safeguards
• the implications for data security and privacy

We therefore call on the European institutions to launch an urgent security and regulatory review of the take-over. We demand urgent and adequate measures to protect European citizens, democracy and security from its harmful implications.