EU Launches Probe into X's Policies and Misinformation Under Musk's Leadership

The relationship between Elon Musk and the European Union deteriorated further on Monday, with the EU beginning a formal probe into how X has been governed since Musk took control last year.

EU Looks Into Elon Musk's X for Spreading Illegal Content

Senior European Commission officials expressed worry about a variety of new features added to X under Musk, as well as the way violent information relating to the Hamas attack on Israel was allowed to proliferate without being regularly tagged with a graphic content warning.

EU officials also stated that they would look into whether platform users are being deceived about the reliability of persons who pay for blue checkmarks, a feature that was formerly reserved for verified users such as celebrities, public figures, or journalists. Since Musk's takeover, the platform has distributed blue checks to paying customers, a feature that experts believe has been used to disseminate hoaxes and misinformation.

The inquiry will also look into whether Community Notes, X's crowdsourced fact-checking program, can work in languages other than English and intervene quickly enough during elections.

EU Scrutinizes X for Content Moderation and Language Bias Under Digital Services Act

Other issues mentioned by the EU include how users can alert X when they detect unlawful content and whether the platform's content control efforts are overly concentrated on the English language. According to a statistic given by the firm last month, X has over 2,000 English-speaking moderators but only one Dutch-speaking moderator and one Polish moderator.

With the inquiry, X becomes the first big platform to face a formal investigation for breaking guidelines under the European Union's new Digital Services Act, which has the authority to order internet companies to change their business practices or punish them up to 6% of their global turnover.

"Today's formal proceedings against X demonstrate unequivocally that, with the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving as if they are 'too big to care' is over," said Thierry Breton, the EU's internal markets commissioner. An extensive investigation is now underway.

“X remains committed to complying with the Digital Services Act,” company spokesperson Joe Benarroch told WIRED, adding that the platform is cooperating with regulators. “It is important that this process remains free of political influence and follows the law.”

The probe is the first step in a process in which officials will conduct interviews and gather additional evidence. “We take any breach of our rules very seriously. And the evidence we currently have is enough to formally open a proceeding against X,” said Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president for digital affairs in Europe.

The announcement follows the first EU probe launched against X in October, which also raised concerns about the transmission of graphic unlawful content and disinformation linked to Hamas' attack on Israel. Since the Hamas attack on October 7, Israeli fact-checking organizations have expressed concern about the content on X.

“X significantly contributed and enabled the spread of graphic, offensive, and false information in and about Israel,” says Edan Ring, VP of community affairs at the Israeli Internet Association. “Our experiences … have revealed a concerning lack of urgency and effectiveness in X's response.”

Musk and Breton had a public spat in October. Musk accused Breton of backroom deals in a series of posts on X, causing Breton to utilize his account to promote X competitor BlueSky.

“The EU's relationship with X has been rocky ever since Musk took over,” says Mathias Vermeulen, director of Brussels-based data rights consultancy AWO. “Whereas Musk had told Breton back in May 2022 that the DSA is ‘exactly aligned with my thinking,’ it is clear that the EU doesn't exactly agree with that statement anymore.” There is no deadline for the EU probe to be completed.

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