EU Opens Investigation Into X After Making Censorship Demands

If you’re tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Sparking serious concerns over severe censorship and free speech restrictions, the European Union has initiated a formal investigation into X, due to perceived misinformation related to the recent Hamas attack on Israel. The potential risk of such probes is that they could lead to a world where a centralized authority determines the validity of opinions and controls information flow. From the perspective of anti-censorship advocates, this move by the EU is a slippery slope. The imperative question that arises is who gets to define “misinformation,” and how can it be ensured that bias or interests of the few do not influence these definitions? This investigation marks the inaugural application of the Digital Services Act (DSA) – a controversial legislative effort purportedly aimed at policing Big Tech. However, free speech advocates argue that this aggressive stance strays dangerously close to infringing on foundational rights to free expression. In the wake of recent hostilities between Israel and Hamas, there’s been a substantial uptick in digital content related to the conflict, some containing graphic imagery. While the EU’s initiative is purportedly to quell misinformation, it raises the age-old question: where does one draw the line between censoring misinformation and infringing upon free speech? Elon Musk, now at the helm of X, received a letter from EU commissioner Thierry Breton, signaling unease that the platform could be a conduit for what the EU deems “illegal content and disinformation.”…EU Opens Investigation Into X After Making Censorship Demands