EU opens investigation into Elon Musk's social media site X over disinformation worries amid Israel-Hamas war

The European Union has opened an investigation into Elon Musk’s X platform over concerns about the spread of illegal content and disinformation around the Israel-Hamas conflict - and it could face fines if misleading information is found.

The European Commission has sent the social media giant a formal request for information under its new online safety rules, known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force earlier this year. Social media platforms have seen a surge in misinformation, violent content and hate speech about the conflict between Israel and Hamas in recent days, with both the EU and the UK warning the largest platforms that they must do more to stop its spread, according to the PA news agency.

If the EU believes X, formerly known as Twitter, has breached the rules, it could open a formal investigation and if a breach is confirmed, X could face a substantial fine - up to 6% of global turnover – or have its service suspended. It could also face penalties if it does not properly comply with the request or supply information by the deadline set by the DSA.

Under the DSA, X has been designated a “very large online platform”, meaning it is required to comply with the strictest set of rules under the DSA, meaning assessing and mitigating the risks linked to the spread of illegal, harmful and violent content.

In a statement, the commission said: “In this particular case, the commission services are investigating X’s compliance with the DSA, including with regard to its policies and practices regarding notices on illegal content, complaint handling, risk assessment and measures to mitigate the risks identified. The commission services are empowered to request further information to X in order to verify the correct implementation of the law.”

In response to initial concerns from the EU, X chief executive Linda Yaccarino said yesterday (Thursday 12 October) that the site had removed hundreds of Hamas-linked accounts and also taken action to remove or label tens of thousands of posts related to the conflict. In a letter to X from the commission’s digital policy chief, Thierry Breton, the company was warned that violent and illegal content, as well as hate speech, was spreading on the platform, despite being reported by users.

In a post on X about the issue, Yaccarino said that X’s work was “ongoing” and added: “Everyday we're reminded of our global responsibility to protect the public conversation by ensuring everyone has access to real-time information and safeguarding the platform for all our users.”

‘Fines for incorrect, incomplete or misleading information’

The statement outlines that X needs to provide the requested information to the Commission services by Wednesday 18 October 2023 for questions related to the activation and functioning of X's crisis response protocol, and by Tuesday 31 October 2023 on the rest. Based on the assessment of X replies, the commission will then assess next steps.

The statement also notes that the commission “can impose fines for incorrect, incomplete or misleading information in response to a request for information.” In addition, “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.”

Earlier this week, Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan also convened a meeting of the UK leaders of the largest social media sites to urge them to do more to combat the rise of harmful content. She told Google, Meta, X, TikTok and Snapchat they must respond to an uptick in violent content, and that their actions would reveal the companies’ preparedness for the upcoming passage into law of the UK’s own new internet rules – the Online Safety Bill.