by The European Union (EU) has initiated formal infringement proceedings against Elon Musk’s platform X under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a legislation aimed at addressing disinformation and hate speech. The EU accused X, formerly known as Twitter, of allowing suspect posts related to the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7. This marks the first action against a major online platform since the implementation of the DSA, which holds online companies accountable for content moderation.
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton stated that the initiation of proceedings against X signifies an end to the era of big online platforms believing they are “too big to care.” The European Commission will conduct an in-depth investigation into X’s compliance with the DSA’s obligations, including countering the dissemination of illegal content and disinformation, ensuring platform transparency, and designing user interfaces.
X responded to the allegations, stating its commitment to complying with the Digital Services Act and cooperating with the regulatory process. However, Musk took a more confrontational approach in a post on the platform, questioning whether action will be taken against other social media platforms, as he believes they have more significant issues.
The European Commission launched a preliminary information-gathering investigation against X in October, specifically looking into the spread of illegal content related to the Hamas attack. Based on the gathered information, the Commission decided to open formal infringement proceedings under the DSA.
The formal probe will focus on four areas: the dissemination of illegal content, the effectiveness of X’s efforts to combat disinformation, restrictions on providing researchers access to data, and deceptive practices related to its Blue Tick subscriptions, known as dark patterns.
If proven guilty, the DSA allows for penalties, including fines of up to six percent of an online company’s global revenues. For serious and repeated violations, the EU can ban a platform from operating within the 27-nation bloc.
During the probe, the European Commission will continue gathering evidence through additional requests for information, interviews, or inspections. The proceedings do not have a specific deadline.
In addition to X, the Commission launched preliminary investigations against TikTok, YouTube, and Meta (Facebook owner) over similar concerns regarding their handling of disinformation and illegal content related to the Hamas attack.
The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the death of approximately 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and the hostage-taking of approximately 250 people. Israel responded with a heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of over 19,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children. The territory has been severely damaged.
Earlier, concerns were raised by the EU regarding X’s disinformation-fighting capabilities after it received a poor score in a pilot study assessing various platforms.
Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion, he has reduced the platform’s content moderation staff and reinstated accounts of banned extremists and conspiracy theorists. As a result, the value of Musk’s company has decreased to around $19 billion, as reported by internal documents and The Verge.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
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