EU Regulator Challenges Musk as Falsehoods Flourish On X Amid Israel-Hamas War

Gabby Miller is Staff Writer at Tech Policy Press. X owner Elon Musk, left; European Commissioner Thierry Breton, right. May, 2022. Source A European Union official has once again indicated that he is willing to throw the full weight of the Digital Services Act (DSA) at X (formerly known as Twitter), as its billionaire owner allows disinformation to run rampant on his platform amid escalating violence in the Middle East. The law, which came into effect for certain large platforms in August, creates obligations for companies to address harms such as disinformation and illegal content. In a letter posted to Elon Musk on Tuesday, European Commissioner Thierry Breton informed Musk that “the DSA sets very precise obligations regarding content moderation” and that the platform must take down illegal content in a “timely, diligent and objective” manner.  On Saturday, a group of militants from the extremist Hamas group launched a full-fledged assault by air, land, and sea on Israel, which has since declared war and launched a military response. With thousands dead, graphic images and videos of abductions, killings, and more have spread rapidly across social media platforms, with misinformation, manipulated content, and lies scattered throughout. “We have, from qualified sources, reports about potentially illegal content circulating on your service despite flags from relevant authorities,” Breton wrote to Musk. According to multiple reports from journalists and analysts who study disinformation, the problem is particularly acute on X, where false and misleading content has proliferated unchecked. Some examples include: Arma 3 video game…EU Regulator Challenges Musk as Falsehoods Flourish On X Amid Israel-Hamas War