The European Commission said it had opened a formal procedure to investigate X (formerly Twitter) for content related to attacks by the Hamas terrorist group against Israel.
In a December 18 notice, the commission saying planned to assess whether X violated the Digital Services Act for its response to misinformation and illegal content on the platform. According to the government body, X was being investigated for the effectiveness of his Community Notes (comments added to specific tweets intended to provide context), as well as his policies “mitigating risks to civic discourse and electoral processes.”
“The opening of formal proceedings empowers the Commission to take additional enforcement actions, such as interim measures and non-compliance decisions,” the notice said. “The Commission is also empowered to accept any commitment made by X to remedy the issues that are the subject of the procedure.”
We have opened formal procedures to evaluate whether X may have violated the #DSA in areas linked to:
Risk management
content moderation
dark patterns
advertising transparency
data access for researchersLearn more about next steps: https://t.co/VHJjIsVftY pic.twitter.com/oygKah5GIq
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) December 18, 2023
The proceedings will include a look at X's blue checkmark system, which the commission described as an “alleged deceptive design” on the platform. According to the European Commission, there were also “alleged deficiencies” in X's efforts to increase the transparency of the platform's publicly available data.
X owner Elon Musk implemented controversial policies at the social media giant following his purchase of Twitter in 2022, drawing criticism from many veteran users and tech industry experts. The then-CEO was responsible for cutting Twitter's trust and safety team, reducing the number of content moderators, and replacing the platform's signature blue check verification system.
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Following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, Musk used his personal account to promote anti-Semitic content through responding to a tweet promoting far-right conspiracy theories. The watchdog group Media Matters released A report from November shows that ads on X from large companies could appear alongside pro-Nazi content under certain search conditions.
During a Nov. 29 interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin, Musk said advertisers “go to hell” after many left the platform, saying the exodus “is going to kill the company.” The social networking site reclaimed was “the platform for free speech” after filing a lawsuit against Media Matters, alleging that the group's report did not reflect what the typical X user sees.
Musk had not commented publicly on the European Commission investigation at the time of this publication. The former Twitter CEO is known in the crypto space for boosting Dogecoin (DOGE) and other tokens, as well as his bitcoin (btc) purchases while running Tesla and SpaceX.
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