The European Union on Monday introduced a proper investigation into X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, for failure to counter illicit content material and disinformation, a scarcity of transparency about promoting and “misleading” design practices.
The inquiry is maybe probably the most substantial regulatory consequence to this point of X, which has scaled again its content material moderation insurance policies since Mr. Musk bough the service, as soon as often called Twitter, final 12 months. The corporate’s new insurance policies have led to an increase in incendiary content material on the platform, based on researchers, inflicting manufacturers to cut back promoting.
In going after X, the European Union is for the primary time utilizing its new authority gained after final 12 months passing a brand new legislation, referred to as the Digital Companies Act. The coverage offers regulators huge new powers to pressure social media firms to police their platforms for hate speech, misinformation and different divisive content material.
The European Fee, the 27-nation bloc’s government department, had signaled its intention to look extra intently at X’s enterprise practices. In October, regulators initiated a preliminary investigation into the unfold of “terrorist and violent content material and hate speech” on X after the beginning of the Israel-Gaza battle.
Beneath the Digital Companies Act, firms can face fines as much as 6 % of world income.
It is a growing story. Examine again for updates.
