Elon Musk responds to EU ultimatum over alleged Israel-Hamas misinformation on X
Elon Musk, owner of
In a tweet, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton posted a letter addressed to Musk, dated October 10, 2023, reminding the billionaire of his obligations under the Digital Service Act to stop the spread of illegal content and misinformation within the service .
“Our policy is that everything is open source and transparent, an approach I know the EU supports,” Musk said under Breton’s post, inviting him to report the violations directly on the platform so that the entire public can see them can see.
How X deals with misleading content
The back-and-forth between Musk and Breton continued for a few additional comments.
Breton claimed that Musk, for his part, continued to ask to share the exact violations his platform was accused of.
“We take our actions in public. No backroom deals. Please post your concerns explicitly on this platform,” he wrote.
Following the Hamas terrorist attacks on 🇮🇱, we have evidence that X/Twitter is being used to spread illegal content and disinformation in the EU. Urgent letter to @elonmusk about #DSA obligations ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/avMm1LHq54October 10, 2023
Nevertheless, in his letter, Breton also expressed concerns about some changes in X’s public interest policy, which “took place overnight” and “made many European users insecure.”
On October 10, in just about three days, The social media giant then decided to respond by enforcing some policy updates as events continued to unfold.
The platform has lifted previous restrictions on the distribution of difficult content. It believes that “it is in the public’s interest to understand what is happening in real time”. X Safety team explained.
At the same time, the country has assured the public that it is working hard to block “newly created Hamas-affiliated accounts” under its policy on violent and hateful entities. It even mentioned ongoing joint efforts with the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) to prevent the contribution of “terrorist content.”
Did you know?
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton backed French President Macron’s call for a debate on social media blocks when they fail to tackle content that incites violence. This means people may have to turn to VPN services to continue accessing these platforms.
Read our full report to understand how DSA rules can be used to enforce social media shutdowns in Europe.
However, criticism remains of X’s handling of matters at this time, as fake and manipulated content about the war between Israel and Hamas continues to spread, tweet after tweet.
Musk himself reportedly suggested users follow two accounts on Sunday that are reportedly “tracking the war in real time.” Later, some journalists and X-users pointed out that they had shared artificial intelligence-generated fake images and anti-Semitic comments in recent months. Euronews reports this.
Commentators have long warned against Musk’s absolutist approach to free speech, which would have made the platform more vulnerable to the spread of dangerous content.
From monetization of verified accounts and widespread layoffs across key teams to the recent decision to remove the dedicated feature for reporting electoral disinformation, many seem to agree that fake news could soon get a lot worse in X’s feed .
“War is always a cauldron of tragedy and disinformation; Musk has made it worse,” said Atlantic Council analyst Emerson Brooking. “Musk has repeatedly and purposefully denigrated the idea of objective media, and he has made platform design decisions that undermine such reporting. We are now seeing the results.”