European Commission Launches Investigation into X over Alleged Violations, Examines Musk's Policies
Summary:
The European Commission has officially launched an investigation into X (formerly Twitter) over allegations of hosting content related to Hamas' attacks on Israel. The probe will assess whether X violated the Digital Services Act in handling misinformation and illegal content, as well as the effectiveness of X's community note strategies. The inquiry will scrutinize X's blue tick validation system and its efforts towards transparency of public data. This follows controversial policies implemented by owner Elon Musk after purchasing the platform in 2022, which drew criticism from numerous users and professionals in the tech industry.
The European Commission has initiated an official probe into X, previously known as Twitter, over allegations of publishing content pertaining to terrorist group Hamas' assaults on Israel. The commission, on December 18, announced its plans to evaluate if X contravened the protocols of the Digital Services Act by how it addressed misinformation and illegitimate content on its platform. The commission's inquiry will focus on the effectiveness of X's Community Notes, comments that provide context to particular tweets, along with its strategies "curbing risks to civic dialogue and electoral activities."
"The initiation of official procedures empowers the Commission to further enhance enforcement actions like interim measures and non-compliance decisions," stated the notice. "The Commission can also accept any commitments made by X to rectify the issues that are being probed."
The procedures will scrutinize X’s blue tick validation system, suspected by the commission as a "potential deceptive design" on the platform. In addition, the European Commission pointed out X's "purported inadequacies" in efforts to make the platform's public data more transparent.
X was bought by Elon Musk in 2022 and towards the end of that year, he introduced contentious policies which were opposed by many veteran users and tech professionals. Musk downsized Twitter's trust and safety team, lessened content moderators and substituted the platform's blue tick verification system.
Following an antisemitic breach by Hamas on Israel on October 7, Musk used his personal account to propagate antisemitic content by responding to a tweet that endorsed extremist conspiracy theories. A report published by Media Matters in November revealed that major company's adverts on X were allowed to feature alongside pro-nazi content under specific search prerequisites.
During a November 29 conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin, Musk dismissed advertisers leaving the platform, warning that the mass departure would "cause the company's downfall." The platform defended itself as a "free speech platform" after filing a lawsuit against Media Matters, arguing that the group's report did not represent the typical X user's view.
As of now, Musk has not commented publicly on the European Commission's investigation. The former Twitter CEO is known in the crypto community for endorsing Dogecoin (DOGE) and other tokens, besides his Bitcoin (BTC) purchases as the head of Tesla and SpaceX.
Published At
12/18/2023 7:30:56 PM
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