European Union launches content investigation into X
The European Union (EU) has launched an official process to assess whether the social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, has violated the Digital Services Act (DSA).
AA
In a statement from the EU Commission, it was reported that as part of the process, it will be determined whether X has violated the DSA regarding issues related to risk management, content moderation, the practice of "dark patterns" designed to steer or deter users for the benefit of a brand, advertising transparency, and data access.
It was stated that the Commission initiated the official process regarding the violation of the law based on a preliminary investigation conducted following the documents submitted by the X company and its responses to the official request for information regarding disinformation, illegal, and harmful content spread after "Hamas's attacks on Israel."
The statement, which noted that evidence will continue to be gathered by sending official information requests to the X company and by conducting interviews and examinations, also reminded that the initiation of the official process grants the Commission the authority to impose sanctions such as "interim measures" and "non-compliance decisions."
EU Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager of Denmark commented on the decision, stating, "We take any breach of our rules very seriously, and the evidence we currently have is sufficient to launch an investigation against X. The Commission will carefully investigate X's compliance with the DSA to ensure that European citizens are protected in the online environment."
No date was given as to when the official process will be completed.
The EU had launched an investigation on October 12 into X's compliance with the Union's online rules, citing "disinformation, illegal, and harmful content spread after Hamas's attacks on Israel" as the reason.
NEW DIGITAL RULES
The EU's law, which came into effect in August, introduced strict rules for large digital platforms.
The EU can impose fines of up to 6 percent of their global turnover on digital platforms that violate the rules. In case of repeated violations, the operations of the digital platforms in question can be terminated in the EU.
The EU had announced in October that it had also launched investigations into Meta and TikTok following X.