According to a media report, Elon Musk is considering blocking his online platform X for users from the EU. The commission had previously demanded clarification from the tech billionaire about the wave of false information.
According to a media report, Elon Musk is considering ending his short message service X in Europe. This was reported by the news site “Business Insider”, citing a person familiar with the matter. The reason for this is the stricter European rules for internet services, which are intended to curb misinformation.
Questionnaire from Brussels
The European Union’s “Digital Services Act” (DSA) obliges large online platforms to take consistent and rapid action against, among other things, hate speech. X recently received a list of questions from the EU Commission, which wants to know more about how the service is fulfilling its obligations because of the war in the Middle East. The Brussels authorities have therefore initiated proceedings against the company.
So far, the short message service has not done enough to combat false information in connection with the attack on Israel by the militant Islamist Hamas, EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton said. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton referred, among other things, to reports of manipulated images and recordings from video games that were passed off as real recordings.
High penalty for X possible
According to the report, Musk showed incomprehension about the EU’s list of questions. As a consequence, he is considering blocking the availability of the previous Twitter app or blocking it for users in the European Union. Elon Musk has not yet officially responded. He generally answers press inquiries with the brief sentence that he is busy at the moment.
If the EU discovers violations of the DSA law, there will be high penalties. Recently, Facebook parent Meta and the short video platform TikTok were reprimanded and reminded of compliance with their obligations under the “Digital Services Act”. The Facebook group Meta has not yet activated its Twitter competitor service Threads, which was launched this year, for the European Union, citing EU digital laws.