Problems are piling up for the social network X, formerly known as Twitter. In addition to the fall in popularity among users and conflicts with advertisers since Musk acquired the network, the opening of an infringement procedure announced yesterday by the European Commission for alleged negligence in moderation of content and the dissemination of fake news, as well as messages of incitement to hatred, particularly related to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Brussels is launching the powers granted by the Digital Services Act (DSA, for its acronym in English), in force since last year, to monitor the conduct of internet giants and ensure that they comply with the new obligations Five days after the attack by Hamas against Israel, the European Commission opened a preliminary investigation into the dissemination of “false information”, “violent and terrorist content” and “hate speech” on the social network related with this conflict. The pace of the network’s reaction to user complaints has been much slower than expected and the explanations they have received from San Francisco have not allayed Brussels’ concerns, hence the unprecedented step taken announced yesterday.
The European Commission continues to collect information on the alleged negligence of the X network on four specific aspects regulated by the new law: its measures to curb the distribution of illegal content and the amount of resources it dedicates to this task; the effectiveness of mechanisms to combat information manipulation, specifically community notes, in which other users can point out or correct false statements; the transparency of the platform (Brussels suspects that it does not offer investigators all the information that would be needed), and, finally, the possible “misleading” design of the famous blue check, which previously distinguished users with verified identity and now the network grants to any user who contracts the payment services.
“The opening of a procedure and an infringement does not prejudge the result”, reminds the institution. But as Musk knows, the company risks a fine of up to 6% of global turnover if Brussels concludes there has been negligence in complying with legal obligations in the EU . “The time is over when the big digital platforms behaved as if they were too big to bother to comply with the rules,” said Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market, promoter of the DSA.
