Twitter management Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino responded to the letter from Thierry Breton, who was concerned about the wave of disinformation on the social network related to Hamas’ attacks on Israel.
Updated at 8:30 p.m. – The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into X/Twitter as it is a very large platform and as such is required to comply with DSA rules.
Brussels will examine the social network’s compliance with digital services legislation: policies and practices related to reporting illegal content, handling complaints, risk assessment and measures to mitigate identified risks.
The Commission services may request additional information from Twitter to verify the correct implementation of the Regulation. The company must provide answers before the end of the month. The European authorities will determine how to follow up the investigation based on the information provided by the social network.
The Commission expressly points out that it may impose sanctions and fines for incorrect, incomplete or false information if deadlines are exceeded.
Original article, 3:30 p.m. – Earlier this week, Thierry Breton sent a letter to Elon Musk decrying the “spreading of illegal content and disinformation in the European Union” on X/Twitter following Hamas’ attacks on Israel. The EU Commissioner for the Internal Market recalled the social network’s obligations in the fight against fake news, a measure included in the Digital Services Legislation (DSA).
Read Attacks on Israel: EU demands Elon Musk’s commitment to combat disinformation on X/Twitter
The reaction was quick, in two steps. The first came directly from Elon Musk, on Twitter of course. True to his reputation as the top troll, the owner of the social network is InquiryWhat was the inspector talking about? : “Maybe it’s in the email or something.” Seriously, him straight replied She responded to Thierry Breton’s tweet by asking him to list the crimes in question on Twitter “so people can see them.”
Twitter hands over responsibility to Thierry Breton
The responsibility for a detailed response fell to Linda Yaccarino. The CEO has called backthe various moderation mechanisms implemented by Twitterwith a particular focus on Community Notes, the community of volunteer fact-checkers who are dealing with a flood of fake news while the staff responsible for content moderation has been decimated.
Today @lindayaX answer to @ThierryBretonIn this letter we describe in detail our work in response to the terrorist attack on Israel. pic.twitter.com/yZtaOVGpHG
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) October 12, 2023
Since the start of the war, Twitter has “identified and deleted hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts,” she asserts. “X is committed to supporting public discussion, especially in critical times like these, and recognizes the importance of taking action against any illegal content that may be spread through our platform.” She adds that there is “no place “for terrorist organizations or violent extremist groups.
More specifically, the manager explains that X responded to “more than 80 withdrawal requests received in the European Union” and processed them “carefully and objectively within the required deadlines”. Linda Yaccarino calls on the Commission to provide “more details” on illegal content ; She adds that the company has received nothing from Europol on the issue, while Thierry Breton calls on Twitter to approach the European police authority.
The ball is now in the EU Commissioner’s court, who has also called Mark Zuckerberg to account for combating disinformation on meta-platforms.