EU warns Elon Musk: Fix Twitter/X's disinformation problem or face penalties

The European Union (EU) has published an open letter to Elon Musk, noting the circulation of disinformation on Twitter/X and urging him to take action. In response, Musk basically said, "What disinformation?"

EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton posted the letter to Twitter/X on Tuesday, expressing concern about the spread of false information regarding the ongoing attacks in Israel and Palestine.

"Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that your platform is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU," wrote Brenton. "I therefore invite you to urgently ensure that your systems are effective, and report on the crisis measures taken to my team."

This isn't a new issue for Twitter/X. The EU previously warned Twitter/X about disinformation on regarding the war between Russia and Ukraine, stating that the platform has "the largest ratio of mis- or disinformation posts."

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Brenton listed three main areas of concern. Firstly, he called for Twitter/X to be clearer regarding its content policies, and to "consistently and diligently" enforce them. Secondly, he asked Twitter/X to swiftly take action when alerted that illegal content is circulating on the platform. Finally, he told Twitter/X to establish "mitigation measures" to minimise the risks of disinformation to the community and public security.

"Public media and civil society organisations widely report instances of fake and manipulated images and facts circulating on your platform in the EU, such as repurposed old images of unrelated armed conflicts or military footage that actually originated from video games," said Brenton. "This appears to be manifestly false or misleading information."

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Disinformation about the attacks in Israel and Palestine has rapidly proliferated on Twitter/X, with CEO Linda Yaccarino even cancelling an upcoming conference appearance to "remain fully focused on X platform safety." Even Musk himself promoted accounts known to spread false information, telling his likely bloated number of 159.5 million followers to look to them for information on the conflict. He later deleted his recommendation after taking issue with the language one of the accounts used.

In years past, Twitter was an invaluable tool for getting close to real-time information on breaking news and events. Musk's sweeping changes to the platform have rendered it all but useless for this purpose, prioritising posts from anyone who pays a subscription fee and causing confusion regarding which sources can be trusted.

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This would be bad enough. Yet unfortunately but unsurprisingly, Musk has responded to the EU's request by doing the Musk equivalent of attempting to square up.

"Our policy is that everything is open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports," Musk replied. "Please list the violations you allude to on X, so that that [sic] the public can see them."

Setting aside the fact of Musk calling upon the public as though asking for a trial by jury, it would be impossible and unrealistic for anyone to attempt to compile every instance of disinformation on Twitter/X. However, Brenton's letter did note that authorities have already brought examples to Twitter/X's attention, and that the company has failed to act on them in a timely manner. 

If Musk doesn't want to refer to such reports, there are also numerous journalists and fact-checkers calling out disinformation on the platform, including providing the specific examples Musk is after.

"You are well aware of your users’ — and authorities’— reports on fake content and glorification of violence," Brenton responded. "Up to you to demonstrate that you walk the talk."

Brenton offered his team's assistance to help Twitter/X address the issue, and warned that the EU may impose penalties if it isn't handled. Regardless of whether or not Musk takes him up on the offer, it certainly seems like Twitter/X has its work cut out for it.