Europe Launches Investigation into Elon Musk’s X for Potential Violation of Information Regulations
PARIS/STOCKHOLM: The European Union said on Monday it would launch an investigation into alleged violations by social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, in its first such investigation under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The DSA, which entered into force in November of last year, requires very large online platforms and search engines to enhance the fight against illegal content and risks to public safety, and to protect their services from manipulation techniques.
The proceedings will focus on combating the spread of illegal content in the EU and the effectiveness of measures taken to combat data manipulation, in particular the “community annotation system”, the commission said.
It also focuses on X’s measures to increase the transparency of its platform and the suspected misleading design of the user interface, such as checkmarks linked to subscription products, the so-called
The Commission stated that it will now carry out an in-depth investigation as a matter of priority and will continue to gather evidence by sending requests for additional information, conducting interviews and inspections.
X, owned by Elon Musk, is part of a group of large technology companies covered by the DSA.
Following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, EU Industry Director Thierry Breton sent letters to X, Metal, TikTok and Alphabet reminding them of their obligations under the DSA to combat harmful and illegal content.
The platforms quickly responded to Breton, highlighting the steps they have taken to prevent the spread of disinformation on their platforms, but Musk sued Breton over the disinformation charge.
Only X received a formal information request under the DSA and has responded to the request.
The commission said the preliminary investigation so far included an analysis of a report submitted by X in September, a transparency report issued by X in November and X’s response to a formal request for information on illegal content related to Hamas attacks on Israel.
X did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
DSA sets new rules for content control, user privacy and transparency. Any company found in violation will be fined up to 6 percent of its global turnover.
