Countless manipulated images, dozens of false reports: X, formerly Twitter, hosts the largest share of false information among the main social platforms. The European Commission has now warned Elon Musk for spreading “false information”.
“Breaking news” about an alleged nuclear attack, countless images of dead civilians, videos of hostage taking: since the attack on Israel by the terrorist Hamas on Saturday, social media has been flooded with brutal images. On X, hundreds of accounts share images of Israelis who were allegedly murdered within hours. There are several warnings in the comment columns about manipulated and edited material; many images are part of a campaign, they say. The aim is to awaken fear among Israelis. Some accounts even claim to be working on behalf of the terrorist organization Hamas.
About a year ago, Elon Musk took over the Twitter platform and later renamed it X. New features and a massively reduced workforce aim to make the platform more profitable. The platform’s moderation team, the people who review material and address misinformation and violence, were particularly harmed. The consequences are now clearly visible. While the spread of disinformation between Israeli and Palestinian groups is not new, according to disinformation experts and fact-checkers, false claims and conspiracy theory narratives are currently on the rise.
The European Commission gets involved
The New York Times also found that X is awash in misinformation. She saw photos and videos and several of them were manipulated or edited, the newspaper writes. Israelis are now also warning each other via WhatsApp not to look at the social media platform. Especially because brutal recordings are often played automatically and without prior warning.
Meanwhile, the EU Commission also commented. She warned Musk in a letter for “spreading illegal content” and “false information” on his online service X. An assessment carried out by the Commission recently concluded that, among large online platforms, X has the highest proportion of false information.
The letter to Elon Musk EU Commission
Due to a rise in illegal and misanthropic content, Germany’s anti-discrimination agency removed it from the platform on Wednesday. In our opinion, X “is no longer a viable environment for the profile of a public body”, he states in the last topic of the report. Several celebrities had already turned their backs on the online service.
The latest thread from Germany’s anti-discrimination network Screenshot Twitter/@ADS_Bund
Musk faces consequences
EU Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton gave Musk a 24-hour deadline on Tuesday and threatened possible sanctions, according to the letter. He must contact “law enforcement authorities” within 24 hours. “Following Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel, we have evidence that your platform is being used to spread illegal content and disinformation in the EU,” Breton said in the letter.
Musk had previously backed out of a deal to tackle disinformation between the EU and major online services. Furthermore, he personally guarantees the strengthening of dubious accounts. He recently recommended following an account that spreads anti-Semitic content to find out more about the escalation in Israel. Musk later deleted the tweet. (APA/ed.)