EU investigates X for allegedly ‘allowing’ Israel-Hamas disinformation on app

The European Union (EU) is looking into Elon Musk’s X due to concerns that it may be sharing terrorist and violent content, hate speech, following the recent attack by Hamas on Israel.

This investigation, which is the first one following the EU’s new tech rules, will also examine how complaints are dealt with.

X, which used to be called Twitter, announced that it got rid of many accounts related to Hamas from their platform.

The EU has told TikTok and Meta that they need to do more to fight against lies and false information.

Social media companies have noticed a big increase in false information about the fighting between Israel and Hamas. This includes fake pictures and wrongly titled videos.

Thierry Breton, who is in charge of the EU’s industry, announced on Thursday that the EU has asked X to provide information to check if they are following the Digital Services Act (DSA). This law aims to safeguard users of large technology platforms, and it has been recently implemented.

Earlier on Thursday, Linda Yaccarino, who is the main boss of a company, said that they had gotten rid of many accounts related to Hamas and had done something about lots of content since the attack on Saturday. They did this because Mr Breton wrote a letter to them on Tuesday.

The EU has labeled Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, as a banned terrorist organization.

Over 150 people were captured and brought to Gaza, and around 1,300 individuals lost their lives during the violent attacks conducted by Hamas in Israel over the weekend.

So far, over 1,500 people have died in Gaza after Israel began attacking in response to previous attacks.

The UN’s World Food Programme says that the situation in Gaza is very bad. There is not enough food and water because of an Israeli blockade. Israel is saying that they will not lift the blockade until the people they are holding captive are released.

MrBreton wrote a letter to Mr. Musk, expressing concern that the platform X has not removed “violent and terrorist content” even after being warned about it.

MrBreton didn’t explain the disinformation he talked about in the letter, but he said many untrue images and facts were shared a lot on social media.

In his reply about X, Mr. Musk said that our policy is to be open and clear about everything. He knows that the EU also appreciates this approach.

“Please tell us about the rule-breaking incidents you are suggesting happened on X, so that the public can know about them. ”

The DSA became a law in November, but companies were allowed some time to ensure that their systems followed the rules.

On 25 April, the commission listed the biggest online platforms – the ones with more than 45 million EU users – that would have to follow the strictest rules, including X. The law became active in August, four months later.

Under the new rules, big companies must identify and evaluate possible dangers they might create, share that evaluation, and take steps to handle the issue.

If a company does not follow DSA rules, they may have to pay fines up to 6% of their total earnings or their service might be temporarily stopped.

X has until 18 October to explain how it handles crisis situations and until 31 October to address other topics.

MrMusk got rid of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council right after he bought the company in 2022. Created in 2016, the volunteer council had around 100 separate groups that gave advice on topics like hurting oneself, harming children, and spreading messages of hatred.

At the moment, a representative from Meta said to the BBC that they are working day and night to make sure their websites are secure. They have put together a special team of experts to watch over what’s happening.