The European Union (EU) is launching a formal investigation into Elon Musk’s X — formerly Twitter — over not censoring content sufficiently.
The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) went into effect in August, and it punishes “very large online platforms” (VLOPs) for hosting content that includes “disinformation” with penalties of up to 6% of their annual revenue. The EU is looking into X’s lack of censorship of “illegal content” and “disinformation,” as well as its advertising practices, according to the Monday announcement. (RELATED: Dems Moan About Elon Musk While Spending Big On X Ads)
“We will now start an in-depth investigation of X’s compliance with the DSA obligations concerning countering the dissemination and amplification of illegal content and disinformation in the EU, transparency of the platforms and design of the user interface,” EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton stated in the announcement.
Today we open formal infringement proceedings against @X :
⚠️ Suspected breach of obligations to counter #IllegalContent and #Disinformation
⚠️ Suspected breach of #Transparency obligations
⚠️ Suspected #DeceptiveDesign of user interface#DSA pic.twitter.com/NxKIif603k
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) December 18, 2023
The investigation can take an unlimited amount of time and X has the opportunity to negotiate potential solutions, according to the announcement.
“The Commission is also empowered to accept any commitment made by X to remedy on the matters subject to the proceeding,” the announcement states. “The DSA does not set any legal deadline for bringing formal proceedings to an end. The duration of an in-depth investigation depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of the case, the extent to which the company concerned cooperate with the Commission and the exercise of the rights of defence.”
The EU is also looking at how effective X’s Community Notes tool is for countering so-called “information manipulation” in the EU, according to the announcement. It is also investigating how other X policies combat “risks to civic discourse and electoral processes.”
“The DSA is not about censorship. In line with EU values, the DSA creates a framework to enforce online what is illegal offline,” an EU spokesperson told the DCNF. “Nothing in the DSA obliges online intermediaries to remove lawful content. What is illegal content, is not defined by the DSA but by other EU law (terrorist content; child sexual abuse material; illegal hate speech covered by the framework decision against racism and xenophobia), or national law.”
The DSA could drastically increase censorship in the U.S., in addition to Europe, as it incentivizes platforms to enforce the compelled moderation worldwide, experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“The DSA is EU legislation, applicable in the EU single market. All companies offering their services or products in the EU need to respect EU law,” the spokesperson said.
X is the first platform to face a formal investigation under the DSA, according to the announcement.
X did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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