The European Union is investigating social media company X for alleged violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in its first probe under the law.
“Today we are opening formal infringement proceedings against @X” under the Digital Services Act, European Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a post on the platform formerly known as Twitter on Monday.
“The Commission will now investigate X’s systems and policies in relation to certain suspected infringements,” spokesman Johannes Bahrke told a news briefing in Brussels. “It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.”
The investigation will look at whether X did not do enough to curb the spread of illegal content and whether measures to combat “information manipulation”, particularly through its crowdsourced fact-checking feature Community Notes, were effective.
The investigation will also look at user interface issues, misleading use of ‘verified’ accounts, and lack of access for researchers.
“X remains committed to complying with the Digital Services Act and is cooperating with the regulatory process,” the company said in a statement.
“It is important that this process remains free from political influence and follows the law. X is focused on creating a safe and inclusive environment for all users on our platform, while protecting freedom of expression, and we will continue to work tirelessly towards this goal.”
The DSA, which came into force in November last year, requires online platforms and search engines with more than 45 million active users to actively combat illegal content and risks to public safety, and to protect their services from manipulative techniques.
The EU’s preliminary investigation began in October with the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, when EU Industry Commissioner Breton sent letters to X, Meta, TikTok and Alphabet reminding them of their obligations under the DSA to moderate harmful and illegal content.
The platforms responded by highlighting steps they had taken to stop disinformation on their platforms, but Musk challenged Breton on the disinformation charge.
The investigation will focus on the fight against the spread of illegal content in the EU and the effectiveness of measures taken to combat information manipulation, including the “community notes” system, the Commission said.
This year, X launched its Community Notes feature, which allows users to comment on posts to flag false or misleading content, effectively crowd-sourcing fact-checking to users rather than a dedicated team of fact-checkers.
The Commission said it will now carry out an in-depth investigation by sending additional requests for information and conducting interviews and inspections.
It will also examine measures taken by X to increase transparency and a suspected misleading design of the user interface, such as check marks linked to subscription products, the so-called blue checks, it said.
The Commission said a preliminary investigation would include an analysis of a report submitted by X in September, X’s transparency report published in November, and X’s responses to a formal request for information about illegal content related to Hamas attacks against Israel.
The DSA imposes new rules on content moderation, user privacy and transparency. Any company found in breach could be fined up to 6 per cent of its global turnover.