The EU on Friday warned Elon Musk that Twitter could be subject to sanctions under a future media law after the "worrying" suspension of several journalists from the messaging platform.
"News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying. EU's Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our Media Freedom Act," EU commissioner Vera Jourova posted on Twitter.
"Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon."
Jourova's warning comes after Twitter suspended accounts of more than a half-dozen journalists who had been writing about the company and its new owner Elon Musk.
Silencing journalists at Twitter while claiming to be a free speech champion is the latest controversy provoked by Musk since he took over the company, which has seen staffing gutted and advertisers exit.
Some of the journalists had been tweeting about Twitter shutting down an @ElonJet account that tracked flights of billionaire Musk's private jet and about versions of that account hosted at other social networks.
Twitter did not say why the reporters' accounts were suspended.
"Nothing says free speech like suspending journalists who cover you," Sarah Reese Jones of news commentary website PoliticusUSA said in a tweeted response to posts about the suspensions.
Checks at Twitter showed account suspensions included reporters from CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post as well as independent journalists.
In a tweet late Thursday, Musk appeared to allude to the suspension of the reporters' accounts with this tweet: "If anyone posted real-time locations & addresses of NYT reporters, FBI would be investigating, there’d be hearings on Capitol Hill & Biden would give speeches about end of democracy!"
Two key EU laws that Twitter must abide by
There are two pieces of EU legislation, one of them not yet adopted, which are relevant to the situation.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) requires companies serving European web users to meet strict standards against manipulative algorithms, disinformation and other online harm.
It came into force on November 16 but is not fully applicable across the EU's 27 countries until next March for the biggest online platforms -- likely to include Twitter -- and a year later for others.
Companies found in violation of the DSA could be fined sums equal to up to six per cent of the global revenue -- or even banned from the huge EU market.
The EU's Media Freedom Act (MFA) has been proposed by the European Commission but has not yet been made into law.
It seeks to protect media pluralism and independence in an increasingly digital space -- ensuring media outlets are not unduly pressured and are able to remain editorially independent.
It foresees an EU body being set up which would monitor self-regulation by very large platforms and discuss issues such as "foreign information manipulation and interference".