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Sven Giegold, the state secretary in charge of competition
policy at Germany's economy ministry, pointed to Twitter's
abrupt suspension of journalists' accounts and restrictions on
the access to some links.
In a letter to two European Commissioners, Giegold called on the
EU to launch an investigation and said the Commission should act
to prevent what he called Twitter's "anti-competitive behaviour".
Twitter and the EU did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
"General terms and conditions that change almost every hour,
erratic justifications for extensive restrictions on links and
the blocking of journalists threaten freedom of competition and
pose a risk to freedom of expression, information and the
press," Giegold wrote on Twitter, while sharing his letter.
Musk on Tuesday said he was stepping down as Twitter chief
executive.
His $44 billion takeover in October has been marked by chaos and
controversy. Changes in December to Twitter's privacy policy and
the suspension - and reinstatement - of journalists' accounts
drew condemnation from news organizations, advocacy groups and
officials across Europe.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has previously said
it was monitoring developments at the social media company with
growing concern.
German regulators are already pushing government institutions to
stop posting announcements exclusively to privately-held
platforms, touting alternatives like the fledgling decentralised
social media network Mastodon.
According to the Commission's new regulations on digital
markets, it will take over the supervision of large platforms
such as Facebook and Google, Giegold said.
"However, Twitter is not yet classified as a dominant digital
platform, also because the company's sales are still too low,"
he said. "Nevertheless, Twitter exerts a great influence on
shaping public opinion worldwide and also in Europe."
(Additional reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Mark Potter)
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