The European Commission said it had opened formal proceedings to investigate X \u2014 formerly Twitter \u2014 over content related to the terrorist group Hamas\u2019 attacks against Israel.<\/p>\n
In a Dec. 18 notice, the commission said it planned to assess whether X violated the Digital Services Act for its response to misinformation and illegal content on the platform. According to the government body, X was under investigation for the effectiveness of its Community Notes \u2014 comments added to specific tweets aimed at providing context \u2014 as well as policies \u201cmitigating risks to civic discourse and electoral processes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opening of formal proceedings empowers the Commission to take further enforcement steps, such as interim measures, and non-compliance decisions,\u201d said the notice. \u201cThe Commission is also empowered to accept any commitment made by X to remedy on the matters subject to the proceeding.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proceedings will include a look into X\u2019s blue check mark system, which the commission described as a \u201csuspected deceptive design\u201d on the platform. According to the European Commission, there were also \u201csuspected shortcomings\u201d in X\u2019s efforts to increase the transparency of the platform\u2019s publicly available data.<\/p>\n
X owner Elon Musk implemented controversial policies at the social media giant following his purchase of Twitter in 2022, receiving criticism from many long-time users and tech industry experts. The then-CEO was responsible for cutting Twitter\u2019s trust and safety team, reducing the number of content moderators, and replacing the platform\u2019s signature blue check verification system.<\/p>\n
Related: <\/em><\/strong>Elon Musk slams NFTs but ends up arguing the case for Bitcoin Ordinals<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, Musk used his personal account to promote antisemitic content by replying to a tweet promoting far-right conspiracy theories. The watchdog group Media Matters released a report in November showing that advertisements on X for large firms were able to be featured alongside pro-Nazi content under certain search conditions.<\/p>\n During a Nov. 29 interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin, Musk told advertisers to \u201cgo f— yourself\u201d following many leaving the platform, saying the exodus was \u201cgonna kill the company.\u201d The social media site claimed it was \u201cthe platform for free speech\u201d after filing a lawsuit against Media Matters, alleging the group\u2019s report did not reflect what the typical X user sees.<\/p>\n At the time of publication, Musk had not publicly commented on the European Commission investigation. The former Twitter CEO is known in the crypto space for pushing Dogecoin (DOGE) and other tokens, as well as his Bitcoin (BTC) purchases while heading Tesla and SpaceX.<\/p>\n