The European Commission announced on Monday a formal probe into social network X, formerly Twitter, for alleged breaches of European rules on content moderation and transparency.
This is the first time the procedure under the new European legislation on digital services – the Digital Services Act (DSA) – has been used.
"The era when major online platforms acted as if they were too big to worry about regulations is over," said EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton.
The Commission had announced a preliminary probe into billionaire Elon Musk's social network following a rise in "false information", "violent and terrorist content", and "hate speech" since 7 October. This initial step involved an information request to verify the platform’s compliance with European obligations.
Today we open formal infringement proceedings against @X :
⚠️ Suspected breach of obligations to counter #IllegalContent and #Disinformation ⚠️ Suspected breach of #Transparency obligations ⚠️ Suspected #DeceptiveDesign of user interface#DSA pic.twitter.com/NxKIif603k — Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) December 18, 2023
X's response to this initial request was followed by a report released in mid-November outlining content moderation efforts, an obligation for all major platforms under the DSA. Both responses failed to satisfy the European executive, now armed with monitoring and sanctioning powers.
European legislation now allows for fines of up to six per cent of a company’s global revenue. In cases of severe and repeated violations, a platform may even be barred from operating within the EU.
In triggering a formal procedure, the Commission will continue to "gather evidence" by requesting further information from X, conducting interviews or performing inspections. No deadline has been set for the investigation.
X said it was cooperating with the regulatory process. "X is focused on creating a safe and inclusive environment for all users on our platform while protecting freedom of expression, and we will continue to work tirelessly towards this goal," the company stated.
