The European Union on Monday introduced a proper investigation into X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, for failure to counter illicit content material and disinformation, an absence of transparency about promoting and “misleading” design practices.
The inquiry is probably essentially the most substantial regulatory consequence thus far of X, which has scaled again its content material moderation insurance policies since Mr. Musk bough the service, as soon as often called Twitter, final yr. The corporate’s new insurance policies have led to an increase in incendiary content material on the platform, in accordance with researchers, inflicting manufacturers to reduce promoting.
In going after X, the European Union is for the primary time utilizing its new authority gained after final yr passing a brand new legislation, known as the Digital Companies Act. The coverage provides regulators huge new powers to pressure social media firms to police their platforms for hate speech, misinformation and different divisive content material.
The European Fee, the 27-nation bloc’s government department, had signaled its intention to look extra intently at X’s enterprise practices. In October, regulators initiated a preliminary investigation into the unfold of “terrorist and violent content material and hate speech” on X after the beginning of the Israel-Gaza battle.
Below the Digital Companies Act, firms can face fines as much as 6 p.c of worldwide income.
It is a growing story. Test again for updates.