The social network X is under formal investigation by the European Union, to decide whether the company has broken the law in no fewer than eight ways …
Top of the list is “the dissemination of illegal content in the context of Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel” – but blue checkmarks are also once more under the microscope.
The European Commission made the announcement today.
The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether X may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to risk management, content moderation, dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers.
The commission says that it’s focusing on four key areas:
- The compliance with the DSA obligations related to countering the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, notably in relation to the risk assessment and mitigation measures adopted by X to counter the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, as well as the functioning of the notice and action mechanism for illegal content in the EU mandated by the DSA, including in light of X’s content moderation resources.
- The effectiveness of measures taken to combat information manipulation on the platform, notably the effectiveness of X’s so-called ‘Community Notes’ system in the EU and the effectiveness of related policies mitigating risks to civic discourse and electoral processes.
- The measures taken by X to increase the transparency of its platform. The investigation concerns suspected shortcomings in giving researchers access to X’s publicly accessible data as mandated by Article 40 of the DSA, as well as shortcomings in X’s ads repository.
- A suspected deceptive design of the user interface, notably in relation to checkmarks linked to certain subscription products, the so-called Blue checks.
It says that if its suspicions are confirmed, X would have breached eight requirements of the DSA.
If proven, these failures would constitute infringements of Articles 34(1), 34(2) and 35(1), 16(5) and 16(6), 25(1), 39 and 40(12) of the DSA.
The Verge notes that X’s slashed moderation team appears unable to keep up with the flood of posts which either breach the company’s own rules, or which are illegal.
Following the start of the Israel-Hamas war, there have been widespread reports of disinformation/misinformation spreading on X about the conflict including videos and images being shared out of context, a propaganda network of dozens of accounts sharing false and inflammatory content, and X’s failure to take down posts that violate its own rules. A report from NBC News suggested that X’s Community Notes feature has struggled to keep up.
Since his purchase of X (then known as Twitter), new owner Elon Musk has cut back its trust and safety team, overhauled its verification system to allow anyone to pay for a “blue check,” and reinstated numerous previously-banned accounts.
The commission is keen to stress that it is merely an investigation at this stage, but that it reserves the right to make interim enforcement rulings if it finds evidence of law-breaking even before the full investigation is complete.
Photo: Matt Koffel/Unsplash
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