The European Union (EU) announced this Monday that it is opening an official investigation for disinformation against X (formerly Twitter). It was the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Thierry Breton, who announced that the social network is facing a legal procedure carried out by the body that accuses it of committing several serious infractions:
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
According to the European Union statement, the organization has serious doubts that the platform is not complying with the European Digital Services Law (DSA). For this reason, they have ordered an investigation, but not before, recalls El Mundo, warning its owner, Elon Musk, that the social network could face legal proceedings if they did not give explanations about their way of acting: "After the terrorist attacks committed by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that X is being used to spread illegal content and propaganda within the EU."
The European Union justifies the formal investigation against X
However, the magnate did not heed the request of the European body and, given this, the European Commission decided to launch a formal investigation. A decision that Thierry Breton himself justified in a statement:
Today’s opening of formal proceedings against X makes it clear that, with the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are 'too big to care' has come to an end. We now have clear rules, ex ante obligations, strong oversight, speedy enforcement, and deterrent sanctions and we will make full use of our toolbox to protect our citizens and democracies. We will now start an in-depth investigation of X’s compliance with the DSA obligations concerning countering the dissemination and amplification of illegal content and disinformation in the EU, transparency of the platforms and design of the user interface.
Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president of the European Commission, also spoke about the formal investigation, ensuring that "the evidence we have currently have is enough" to investigate X:
The higher the risk large platforms pose to our society, the more specific the requirements of the Digital Services Act are. We take any breach of our rules very seriously. And the evidence we currently have is enough to formally open a proceeding against X. The Commission will carefully investigate X's compliance with the DSA, to ensure European citizens are safeguarded online - as the regulation mandates.
If, after investigation, the Commission considers that X violated the DSA, the agency could penalize the platform with up to 6% of its annual worldwide income. Not only that, the fine will also include 5% of the daily worldwide income that X earned for each day it took them to comply with the requirements of the law.
