European Union Launches a Probe Into Misinformation on X as Fake News Spreads Wildly

AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Following a warning earlier this week, the European Union announced it is launching a probe into X, formerly Twitter, and the disinformation campaigns that have allegedly gone unregulated on the platform.

On Tuesday, Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market at the European Union, sent a letter to Elon Musk and Twitter/X urging them to fully comply with the Digital Services Act, which regulates platforms operating in the EU.

On Thursday, the European Commission stated that they had received “indications” that the company was responsible for the “alleged spreading of illegal content and disinformation, in particular the spreading of terrorist and violent content and hate speech.”

Despite Twitter/X CEO Linda Yaccarino’s reassurance that they were addressing such issues, the EU announced that it would be launching an investigation and requesting more information:

X needs to provide the requested information to the Commission services by 18 October 2023 for questions related to the activation and functioning of X’s crisis response protocol and by 31 October 2023 on the rest. Based on the assessment of X replies, the Commission will assess next steps. This could entail the formal opening of proceedings pursuant to Article 66 of the DSA.

Pursuant to Article 74 (2) of the DSA, the Commission can impose fines for incorrect, incomplete or misleading information in response to a request for information. In case of failure to reply by X, the Commission may decide to request the information by decision. In this case, failure to reply by the deadline could lead to the imposition of period penalties.

X has seen a wave of unreliable and malicious content related to the Israel-Hamas war since the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7. In addition to several fabricated videos that went viral and were shared and seen by millions, a coordinated propaganda campaign involving 67 accounts was discovered on the platform.

Yaccarino stated in her letter to the EU, which was in response to Breton’s initial letter containing the 24-hour ultimatum, that “internal teams who are working around the clock to address this rapidly evolving situation,” also adding: “There is no place on X for terrorist organizations or violent extremist groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real time.”

Musk, for his part, responded to a fake video that made part of CNN’s ground coverage in Israel appear staged, replying to the fabricated content with a laughing emoji.