EU commissioner calls on Elon Musk to curtail disinformation on X about the Israel-Hamas war
Published: 18:50 10 Oct 2023 EDT
European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote an open letter to Elon Musk, warning him that the social network X (formerly Twitter) was spreading disinformation and illegal content related to the Israel-Hamas war.
“We have, from qualified sources, reports about potentially illegal content circulating on your service, despite flags from relevant authorities,” Breton wrote in the letter, which he posted on X.
Following the terrorist attacks by Hamas against ????????, we have indications of X/Twitter being used to disseminate illegal content & disinformation in the EU.
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) October 10, 2023
Urgent letter to @elonmusk on #DSA obligations ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/avMm1LHq54
The EU commissioner pointed out that Musk is obligated to uphold “very precise” content moderation standards under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
Breton requested a response from Musk, who answered with a post of his own.
“Everything is open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports,” Musk wrote, adding “Please list the violations you allude to on X.”
Our policy is that everything is open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 10, 2023
Please list the violations you allude to on ????, so that that the public can see them.
Merci beaucoup.
Musk and Breton do have previous ties to one another, with Breton visiting Musk before he bought Twitter and getting him to film a video in which he said he agreed with the EU’s stance on content moderation.
Breton also visited X in June and met Musk’s successor as CEO, Linda Yaccarino, for a test of the platform’s ability to comply with the DSA. Musk joined the meeting remotely, according to reports.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel
