Twitter to eliminate ‘illegal’ Hamas content

X, which used to be called Twitter, has informed the European Union that it has either deleted or alerted them about a large number of posts or messages since the time when Hamas launched an attack on Israel.

The head of the company, Linda Yaccarino, mentioned that they have deleted many accounts.

The EU gave X a deadline of 24 hours to explain how it was following the rules of European law.

It took action because it noticed that false information about the conflict was spreading on social media, like fake pictures and wrongly titled videos.

The EU has said that it had signs that X was being used to spread illegal content and false information in Europe.

Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, has received a warning from the EU about spreading false information. They have been given a deadline of 24 hours to address the issue.

The EU did not say anything about whether they heard back from Meta, but a spokesperson from the European Commission said they are still talking to the company’s teams who ensure they follow the rules.

The company’s CEO, Ms. Yaccarino, explained that they have rearranged their resources and teams within the company to better handle the content.

“She said that X is dedicated to being open and clear, prioritizing safety, and making sure the Digital Services Act is successful. X will keep working hard to achieve these goals. ”

EU commissioner Thierry Breton wants X and Meta to show evidence of promptly and carefully taking fair and unbiased measures.

In August 2023, the EU made new rules that control the type of things people can post on the internet.

The Digital Services Act wants big online platforms to delete illegal content and prove they have done something about it if asked.

The EU told the BBC that it cannot currently say anything about what will happen next in these particular cases. However, they explained what could possibly happen according to the law.

The DSA lets the EU do interviews and inspections, and if it’s not happy, it can start a formal investigation.

If the commission thinks a platform has not followed the rules or is not solving the issues it found, and has the potential to harm users, it can take stronger actions.

This can mean that the platform may have to pay a large amount of money as a punishment, and if necessary, it can ask judges to stop the platform from operating in the EU for a little while.