Twitter research group stall complicates compliance with new EU law.

Jan 27 (Reuters) - The stalling of a Twitter program that was critical for outside researchers studying disinformation campaigns throws into question the company's strategy to comply with upcoming regulation in Europe, former employees and experts told Reuters.

The European Union's new Digital Services Act (DSA), one of the world's strictest regulations on internet platforms, has sent tech companies scrambling to meet its requirements on having measures in place against illegal content and explaining the steps they take on content moderation, before the law comes into full effect in early 2024.

Twitter signed a voluntary agreement in June with the EU related to the DSA committing to "empowering the research community" through means including sharing datasets about disinformation with researchers. The EU's goal with the law is to create a safer internet for users and have a mechanism to hold companies accountable.

According to Yoel Roth, Twitter's former head of trust and safety, the Twitter Moderation Research Consortium was a key part of Twitter's plan to do that, since it compiled data on state-backed manipulation of the platform and provided that to researchers. "Twitter was uniquely well-positioned," he said.

Nearly all of the 10 to 15 employees who worked on the consortium have left the company since Elon Musk's takeover in October, according to Roth, who resigned in November, and three other former employees who were involved with the program.

The EU law would require platforms with over 45 million EU users to respond to EU-vetted researcher proposals.

Failure to comply with the DSA once it comes into effect could lead to fines of up to 6% of global revenue or even a ban from operating in the EU, according to the European Commission website.

Reuters was unable to determine if Twitter has made alternative plans to comply with the DSA.

In an email, Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, said: "We intend to fully comply with the DSA, have many employees working on DSA compliance internally and have communicated our intent to comply to (EU Commissioner Thierry) Breton and his team."

She did not comment on detailed questions about the status of the consortium, how many employees were working on it, or how Twitter planned to comply with the DSA.

Breton has met at least twice with Musk to discuss Twitter's intent to comply with the upcoming law. In November, Breton said Twitter had "huge work ahead" because the company will have to "tackle disinformation with resolve" and significantly reinforce content moderation. read more In May, Musk appeared in a video with Breton expressing agreement with the Digital Services Act. Breton's spokesperson declined to comment for this story.