"EU opens probe into X in test of new tech rules, pressure on TikTok, Meta", 13 October 2023

EU industry chief Thierry Breton...opened an investigation into Elon Musk's X, the first under new EU tech rules, after earlier reprimanding the social media platform, TikTok and Meta for not doing enough to tackle the spread of disinformation following Hamas' attack on Israel.

All three platforms have seen a surge of false content about the Israel and Hamas conflict, with disinformation appearing to be most prevalent on X, social media researchers told Reuters.

Breton's move ramps up the pressure on TikTok and Meta to remove illegal and harmful content from their platforms in order to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA).

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said... the platform had removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts and taken action to remove or label tens of thousands of pieces of content since the attack, in response to a letter from Breton.

"We have sent @X a formal request for information, a first step in our investigation to determine compliance with the DSA," Breton said in a posting on X.

X declined to comment.

Musk... said in a post on X EU has not provided any example of disinformation after EU industry chief Thierry Breton had asked to tackle the spread of disinformation on X, formerly known as Twitter.

An European Commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It has until Oct. 18 to provide details on how its crisis response protocol is activated and functions, and until Oct. 31 on other issues.

A move by Musk to cut off free academic access to a data tool earlier this year is making it more challenging to track keywords and hashtags, forcing researchers to manually sift through content to trace disinformation, researchers said.

The company risks fines of as much as 6% of its global turnover if found guilty of DSA violations.

The Frenchman earlier on Thursday gave TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew 24 hours to step up efforts to remove illegal and harmful content from the short video app.

Breton's warning in a letter to Chew, first seen by Reuters, follows similar letters to X, formerly Twitter, owner Musk and Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week.

Breton said in the letter to TikTok, owned by Chinese conglomerate ByteDance, that he had indications that it was being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU after the Hamas attacks.