EU warns Musk to stop disinformation on X after Hamas attacks in Israel

EU commissioner Thierry Breton said on Tuesday that he had indications that the social media platform 'X' was being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the European Union.

London: EU commissioner Thierry Breton has warned Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, saying that his X platform “is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU” after Hamas attacks in Israel.

In a letter addressed to Musk, Breton said that following the “terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel”, they have indications that “your platform is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU”.

He said that the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) sets very precise obligations regarding content moderation.

“You need to be very transparent and clear on what content is permitted under your terms and consistently and diligently enforce your own policies. This is particularly relevant when it comes to violent and terrorist content that appears to circulate on your platform,” Breton wrote.

The EU Commissioner told Musk to send back a “prompt, accurate, and complete response” to his request in the next 24 hours, adding that the answer will be included in the EU’s DSA compliance file on X.

“You need to have in place proportionate and effective mitigation measures to tackle the risks to public security and civic discourse stemming from disinformation. Public media and civil society organisations widely report instances of fake and manipulated images and facts circulating on your platform in the EU,” Breton emphasised.

Musk-run X on Tuesday said that it removed newly-created Hamas-affiliated accounts and purged tens of thousands of posts for sharing graphic media, violent speech, and hateful conduct amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas violence. A recent EU study claimed that X had the largest "ratio of discoverability" of disinformation.

"My message for X is: you have to comply with the hard law. We'll be watching what you're doing," Vera Jourova, EU's Values and Transparency Commissioner, said last month.