According to anonymous sources speaking to Bloomberg, the European Commission plans to serve Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, with a formal warning about not cracking down on dangerous content, which it must do under the new Digital Services Act (DSA). If it does go ahead and issue the warning, and X does not act, this could lead the Commission to fine X up to 6% of its total revenue.
X is just one of many big tech companies the EU is scrutinizing under its new Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. The company has already gone against Apple, Meta and Microsoft for anti-competitive practices, so it won’t hesitate to take action against X as well.
According to European Commission website, the Digital Services Act ensures that users can report illegal content such as hate speech, and platforms will have to process alerts quickly and update you. Other problematic content to be addressed under the DSA includes misinformation and terrorist propaganda.
According to the sources speaking to Bloomberg, the warning is due to be issued by Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton before the EU’s summer recession, which is expected towards the end of July.
A few years ago, Burton said that Twitter would then follow EU rules. In response, Musk said the platform would get a content management board. In 2023, Burton noted that Twitter has shown a strong willingness to comply with the EU’s DSA, so we can see it responding to the Commission when the initial findings are shared.
The Commission opened an investigation into X as early as 2023 to examine a number of areas where the company may not have complied with DSA rules. A Neowin report said at the time:
In a press release, the European Commission stated that it is formally looking into several areas where X may not have followed the rules of the DSA. They include the “risk assessment and mitigation measures adopted by X to deal with the distribution of illegal content in the EU” along with “the effectiveness of the measures taken to combat the manipulation of information on the platform”.
The EC is also looking into “suspected deficiencies in providing researchers with access to X’s publicly accessible data” along with reports of a misleading user interface “particularly in relation to checkmarks associated with certain subscription products, so-called blue checks”.
Hopefully we’ll hear from the EC sooner rather than later, and then we’ll have to see how X and Elon Musk react to the findings. It is unlikely that the platform will want to face large fines after several years of trying to increase revenue.
source: Bloomberg