Elon Musk was given 24 hours by the European Union on Tuesday to outline his strategies for better thwarting Hamas videos on the website X, formerly known as Twitter.
E.U. Commissioner Thierry Breton claimed in a letter published on X that Musk’s acquisition of X last year “is being used to spread illegal information and disinformation in the EU.” He threatened Musk or the platform with an investigation and possible consequences if they didn’t react.
Breton stated, “We have reports of possibly unlawful content circulating on your service notwithstanding flags from pertinent authorities from qualified sources.
The growth of Hamas films on the website, which contravenes both the Digital Services Act and its prohibition against Terrorist Content Online, is of concern to the European Commission, the E.U.’s legislative and enforcement arm, according to a representative in an email.
According to the spokesman, “Content circulating online that can be connected to Hamas qualifies as terrorist material, is illegal, and needs to be deleted under both DSA and TCO—as the organizations are listed on the EU’s terrorism list.”
X’s @safety account said in a statement on Monday that the business had “taken action under our Violent along with Hateful Entities Policy to remove newly created Hamas-affiliated accounts and we’re currently coordinating with other industry participants through @GIFCT_official in order to avoid terrorist content from being distributed online.”
The automatic response from X’s press department to an email asking a comment said, “Busy now, please check back later.”
Hundreds of civilians were killed in an onslaught by Hamas over the weekend that took Israel off guard. False and misleading information about the attacks has proliferated on social media in general, but especially on the platform X, where users who pay to be verified receive algorithmic boosts and appear to face little to no consequences for lying, sharing false footage, or recycling old or virtual footage which they claim is new footage of the conflict. Additionally, the company’s trust and safety departments have frequently suffered cuts under Musk’s leadership.
Videos showing Russian leaders claiming that U.S. support for Israel would cause them to extend their military support for Palestine were misattributed in one organized propaganda effort on X. Millions of people have viewed it, and many of its accounts are still accessible.
“Public media and civil society organizations frequently report examples of fraudulent and distorted data circulating on your platforms in the EU, such as the use of combat imagery that actually came from video games or recycled old photographs of unrelated violent situations. According to Breton’s open letter, this material “appears to be obviously false or deceptive.”
On Wednesday, Breton also published an identical but less antagonistic open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta.
“I would ask you to be extremely careful to ensure strict adherence with the DSA rules on terms of service, on the requirement of timely, diligent, and objective action after notices of illegal content in the EU, and with the need for proportionate and effective mitigation measures,” the executive director wrote.
According to a representative for Meta, the business established an operations center following the attacks on Saturday, “staffed with experts, including fluent Hebrew and Arabic speakers to closely track and react to this rapidly evolving situation.”