Elon Musk is about to pull Twitter out of a major online disinformation agreement in Europe, report says

• Twitter and other major tech companies signed up to an EU agreement combatting disinformation last June.
• Politico reports that Twitter will pull out of this once Elon Musk approves the plan next week.

Elon Musk will next week sign off on Twitter's plan to pull out of a disinformation agreement in the European Union, Politico reported.

Google, Meta, Microsoft and TikTok also signed up last June to the EU's code of practice on disinformation.

It's a voluntary rulebook which includes commitments like preventing fake news from making money, ensuring transparency on political ads, and cooperating with fact checkers.

While complying with the code isn't mandatory, it helps mitigate the bloc's Digital Services Act which legislates social media companies. Breaking those rules could land a company with a fine of up to 6% of its annual revenue.

Twitter is expected to end its participation in the code in the coming days, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Politico. One of them said Twitter will officially withdraw as a co-signatory once Musk officially approves the plan next week.

In February, EU officials called out Twitter for failing to provide a full report on its efforts to comply with the code. The European Commission said the other big tech companies showed "strong commitment to the reporting" unlike Twitter, per the Associated Press.

The company used to have an office in Brussels responsible for complying with laws in the union — which has a population of over 440 million — but it was closed down amid layoffs last November.

The code of practice also says companies should provide researchers with access to the platform's data.

Twitter has told disinformation researchers studying the platform to delete data they obtained under historic contracts by the end of May, unless they pay $42,000-a-month, according to the i newspaper.

Politico's report comes eleven days after Musk met with Emmanuel Macron, the French president currently pushing a "Choose France" business campaign.

They discussed potential future investments in the country, hours after Musk was filmed dancing at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Insider contacted Twitter for comment. The company responded with an automated message that didn't address the inquiry.