European Union Sends Warning Letter to X Over “Violent and Terrorist Content material” On Platform

The European Union is sending letters to prime social media platforms, urging clearer insurance policies and content material moderation round movies and pictures associated to the Hamas assaults on Israel final weekend. 

Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for inner market, posted a letter Tuesday to Elon Musk, the proprietor of X, previously generally known as Twitter, saying the EU has “indications that your platform is getting used to disseminate unlawful content material and disinformation within the EU.” This has included “repurposed previous photographs of unrelated armed conflicts or army footage that really originated from video video games,” the letter reads. 

As well as, Breton mentioned X should be “very clear and clear” on what content material is permissible on the platform and comply with that up with larger enforcement, in gentle of “violent and terrorist content material that seems to flow into in your platform.” 

These are listed as attainable violations in gentle of the EU’s Digital Providers Act, which units obligations for social media platforms to rapidly reply to experiences of unlawful content material on their platforms.

Breton requested for a response to the letter inside 24 hours, significantly on his ask to make sure the content material moderation techniques are efficient and to report on disaster measures being taken, whereas noting that his staff would comply with up with one other particular request. X didn’t reply to a request for remark from The Hollywood Reporter.

On the platform, Musk replied to the posted letter and requested for particular violations on the platform, saying “Our coverage is that the whole lot is open supply and clear.” 

On the platform, X’s security staff posted Monday that there had been greater than 50 million posts globally concerning the assaults and that it had taken motion to take away Hamas-affiliated accounts and had taken motion on “tens of hundreds of posts” with graphic media and hate speech.

Nonetheless, the staff additionally added that that they had up to date the platform’s public curiosity coverage to permit extra content material on the platform, which customers selecting what sort of media they might see by modifying their setting. 

“We all know that it’s typically extremely troublesome to see sure content material, particularly in moments just like the one unfolding. In these conditions, X believes that, whereas troublesome, it’s within the public curiosity to know what’s taking place in actual time,” the submit reads. 

On Monday, X CEO Linda Yaccarino mentioned she wouldn’t be capable to attend the WSJ Tech Reside convention as a result of she could be specializing in platform security. (This additionally got here on the heels of a tense interview on the Code Convention, wherein Yaccarino appeared shaken by the sooner, shock interview of Yoel Roth, former head of belief and security at Twitter).

“Linda Yaccarino will likely be unable to attend the WSJ Tech Reside convention subsequent week. With the worldwide disaster unfolding, Linda and her staff should stay totally targeted on X platform security,” X mentioned in a press release. 

An earlier report in The Info mentioned that the social media platform had lower about half of its world staff who had labored on cracking down on disinformation and election fraud on the platform. 

Breton also sent a letter to Fb and Instagram-owner Meta Wednesday asking for vigilance, in gentle of a “surge of unlawful content material and disinformation being disseminated within the EU by way of sure platforms,” along with larger policing on the unfold of disinformation associated to elections, significantly in gentle of the upcoming votes in international locations resembling Poland and the Netherlands.

“I might ask you to be very vigilant to make sure strict compliance with the DSA guidelines on phrases of service, on the requirement of well timed, diligent and goal motion following notices of unlawful content material within the EU, and on the necessity for proportionate and efficient mitigation measures. I urgently invite you to make sure that your techniques are efficient,” the letter reads. 

A spokesperson for Meta didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.