The European Union on Monday issued a stern warning to Elon Musk, urging him to curb the unfold of dangerous content material on his social media platform, X (previously often called Twitter).
This got here simply hours earlier than the tech billionaire is about to interview former U.S. President Donald Trump stay on the platform.
The EU’s inner market commissioner, Thierry Breton, reminded Musk of his authorized obligations beneath the bloc’s Digital Companies Act, which mandates that digital platforms actively police and take away unlawful content material and disinformation to guard customers.
Breton’s letter, posted on X, emphasised that these obligations apply universally throughout the platform, together with to Musk himself, who has over 190 million followers.
“With nice viewers comes higher accountability,” Breton wrote, underscoring the dangers related to the amplification of doubtless dangerous content material throughout the EU.
He particularly cited Musk’s upcoming interview with Trump and up to date inflammatory feedback concerning far-right riots in the UK as examples of content material that might incite violence, hate, and racism.
Breton warned that the EU is carefully monitoring the state of affairs and wouldn’t hesitate to take motion if X is discovered to be in violation of the DSA.
“We’re monitoring the potential dangers within the EU related to the dissemination of content material which will incite violence, hate, and racism at the side of main political or societal occasions around the globe.
“My companies and I might be extraordinarily vigilant to any proof that factors to breaches of the DSA and won’t hesitate to make full use of our toolbox, together with by adopting interim measures, ought to or not it’s warranted to guard EU residents from critical hurt,” Breton wrote.
Since buying the platform in 2022, Musk has been accused of remodeling X right into a platform for right-wing conspiracy theories.
A brand new evaluation from the Middle for Countering Digital Hate revealed that Musk’s false or deceptive claims concerning the U.S. elections have garnered practically 1.2 billion views on X.
