Twitter’s Brussels office is now empty as staff leave the firm following Elon Musk’s takeover

Twitter has lost its last remaining employees in the regulatory hub of Brussels, at a time when it faces increasing scrutiny from EU lawmakers.

The small office of six employees was cut to two in recent weeks following Elon Musk's dramatic culling of staff, according to people with knowledge of the exits. The remaining two members left over the past week, after Musk called for staff to commit to a "hardcore working culture."

The Brussels office was a key hub for Twitter to engage with a deluge of European regulation, much of which has only recently come into force. The social media platform has long battled a perception it has failed to manage hate-speech and disinformation.

Julia Mozer and Dario La Nasa, senior public policy managers and the last staff remaining in the Brussels office, left over the last week, the people said, who declined to comment on the record about staff departures.

Ms Mozer and Me La Nasa could not be reached for comment. A spokesperson for Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

European regulators and officials have been quick to demand Twitter keeps up with its regulatory demands. Hours after billionaire Musk closed his $44bn (€42bn) deal for the company, European Commissioner Thierry Breton sent a warning to the new owner, calling on the company to "fly by our rules".

Mr Musk has tried to reassure European regulators that he will follow their laws. The Tesla CEO called Mr Breton the day after taking over Twitter to say the platform would comply with the DSA, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Since then, Mr Musk's strategy has been to slash Twitter's workforce in half in sweeping job cuts that included much of the company's management.

Managers in the UK and Ireland have also left, while Twitter head of France announced his departure in a tweet on Sunday.

Speaking after sitting down with Twitter staff in Dublin, the EU's justice commissioner Didier Reynders said yesterday that the firm must comply with the data rules. He said they had made solid commitments to keep users' data safe and stressed that the team in Dublin would be in charge.
"What we have seen in the last few weeks is very concerning," Reynders said during a press conference. "We have received from shareholders of Twitter and the team in Dublin a clear commitment," to work on it "but we now need to see concrete measures to be in full compliance."

Last Friday, French media regulator Arcom sent a letter to Twitter's European headquarters in Ireland, asking if the social network still had the means to keep ensuring content moderation as per French and EU laws, following job cuts.

The head of Arcom, Roch-Olivier Maistre, expressed his deep concern over Twitter's ability to maintain a safe environment for its users following the staff cuts. Like other platforms, Twitter is required to fight against misinformation and hate speech under French laws.

Ireland's data watchdog also held a meeting with Twitter last week.Bloomberg