EU Commissioner Thierry Breton warned Elon Musk in a letter today that X (formerly Twitter) "is being used to spread illegal content and disinformation in the EU" following Hamas' attacks on Israel. Breton also reminded Musk that the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into effect in August, "stipulates very clear content moderation obligations."
The commissioner wrote that illegal content flagged by "relevant authorities" remained on the site, indicating that no action was taken. He pointed out that the DSA required X to remove such content quickly and objectively. He added that Musk's platform needs to have "appropriate and effective mitigations" to address the "risks posed by disinformation to public safety and citizen speech."
Breton added that misleading images and facts from X had been "widely reported" by the media and other organizations, citing old photos and video game footage as examples of scenes from armed conflicts.
EU regulators rebuked Musk in late September over disinformation on his platform, with EU Commissioner Věra Jourová saying at the time that the platform had "the largest proportion of false/disinformation" even compared to Facebook. While Musk's platform has departed from the voluntary EU Disinformation Code of Conduct, which requires X and other "very large online platforms" to adhere to similar guidelines to the code.
Commissioner Breton concluded his letter by urging Musk to provide a "quick, accurate and complete response" to his request within the next 24 hours, adding that the response would be included in the EU's DSA compliance dossier on X.