EU opens investigation into X for possible spread of disinformation
The European Commission is launching an investigation into X, the former Twitter. That platform was previously warned by the EU for spreading disinformation about the Hamas attack in Israel. It is the first time this has happened since the introduction of the DSA.
The European Commission took a first step in the DSA investigation into X on Thursday European Commissioner Thierry Breton announced. The Commission has under the Digital Services Act information requested from X, with which the EU wants to find out whether X complies with the legislation. The European Commission does this after ‘indications about the alleged spread of illegal content and disinformation’. According to the EU, this mainly concerns ‘terrorist and violent content and hate speech’.
X has until October 18 to provide the first requested information to the European Commission. This concerns questions surrounding the activation and functioning of the platform’s crisis response protocol. The ‘other questions’ must be answered no later than October 31. On this basis, the Commission will assess whether follow-up steps are necessary, such as a more extensive investigation. The EU also emphasizes that it can impose fines if X provides incorrect or incomplete information to the Commission.
Under the Digital Services Act, very large online platforms must, among other things, take additional steps to combat the spread of disinformation. This law has applied to various services since the end of August, including X. The EU previously also issued warnings to Facebook parent company Meta and TikTok. Those warnings revolved around disinformation and violent images surrounding the Hamas attack in Israel, also writes Reuters.
Linda Yaccarino, X’s CEO, said Thursday that the platform has “suspended hundreds of Hamas-related accounts and removed tens of thousands of pieces of content from its platform.” reports Reuters. X owner Elon Musk said on Friday that the EU has not yet shared any concrete examples of disinformation with the platform. The company has not yet responded to the EU’s new request for information. If the European Commission concludes that X does not comply with the DSA, the company could be fined up to six percent of its global annual turnover.
The #DSA is here to protect both freedom of expression & our democracies — including in times of crisis.
We have sent @X a formal request for information, a first step in our investigation to determine compliance with the DSA.
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) October 12, 2023