The European Union has formally announced it suspects X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, of breaching its rules in areas including countering illegal content and disinformation. The EU’s digital commissioner, Thierry Breton, sent a letter to X’s owner, Elon Musk, on Tuesday, outlining the alleged infringements and requesting a prompt and accurate response.
The letter came after a series of earthquakes and a volcanic eruption in Iceland, which triggered a wave of misinformation and propaganda on X, especially related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The EU accused X of failing to remove or label violent and terrorist content, fake and manipulated images, and misleading facts circulating on the platform in the EU.
The EU also expressed concerns about X’s public interest policies, which changed after Musk quit a voluntary code of practice set up by the EU earlier this year to help social media companies comply with the new Digital Services Act (DSA) – a law that aims to protect users of big tech platforms from harmful content and ensure fair competition.
The DSA, which came into effect in August, imposes strict obligations on very large online platforms, such as X, to assess and mitigate the potential risks they may cause to public security and civic discourse. The platforms also have to be transparent and consistent in enforcing their own terms and policies, and to cooperate with the EU and national authorities. Failure to comply with the DSA can result in fines of up to 6% of a company’s global turnover, or potentially suspension of the service.
Musk responded to Breton’s letter on X, asking him to list the violations he alluded to, and claiming that X’s policy was to be open and transparent. Breton replied that it was up to Musk to demonstrate that he walked the talk, and urged him to contact Europol and relevant law enforcement agencies within 24 hours.
X is not the only social media platform that has been warned by the EU for not doing enough to tackle disinformation. Facebook, Google, TikTok and other companies are participating in the code of practice and are removing disinformation under the new rules. However, the EU has also opened investigations into some of these platforms over possible breaches of the DSA or other EU laws.
The EU’s action against X comes amid growing tensions between the bloc and Musk, who has been involved in several controversies and legal disputes in Europe over his other businesses, such as Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has also been accused of spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories on X, such as his claims that Covid-19 was not a threat and that vaccines were dangerous.
