It’s not been a great year-end for Elon Musk’s X platform and now we’re seeing the app be targeted by the EU too. This is regarding illegal content allegations as well as serving as a threat to public security.
The news comes in the form of a series of allegations that were partially linked to several posts that had to do with the Gaza-Israel war. Therefore, the act was deemed to be a complete breach of the obligations as underlined in the DSA, making it the first probe of its kind to arise.
The Digital Services Act first came about full throttle in November 2022 and since then, it’s caused quite a shakeup in the world of online apps. This includes all leading search engines that must do more to curb the growing figures for illegal content as well as any risks observed to user security.
Meanwhile, this particular investigation in question has to do with the emphasis on curbing illegal material spread across the EU region as well as outlining the list of effective measures taken to curb how data continues to be manipulated like the famous community notes interface as revealed by the Commission recently.
During the start of 2023, we saw X rollout Community Notes that gave users the chance to add comments for posts while flagging fake material or those deemed to be misleading. This was a major effort as it bid farewell to just a solo team comprising professional fact-checkers who were hired to do the job instead.
This particular investigation is going to take into consideration a few aspects of the firm’s business strategy such as access to data that it solely provides to research teams.
So many researchers found on social media have been very vocal about how they terminated their studies linked to the X app or ended up in a position where they were forced to change it due to the behavior of its head and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. The latter has been very strict in terms of giving others access to the platform for this purpose as mentioned by Reuters in the past month.
This particular step that is being taken doesn’t find the X app guilty of any kind of wrongdoing, confirmed one leading EU member. It also does not speak about X disobeying the Digital Services Act, it added.
The only purpose is to further investigate the platform for any claims that have arisen in recent times so that they’re put to rest after detailed scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk did confirm how his company is committed to obeying the DSA and will cooperate until the end with the whole process of regulation as outlined yesterday through a public statement.
For now, X continually reiterates how its main goals have to do with obeying the DSA and providing relentless cooperation with the whole scrutiny process. Moreover, it’s also working hard in terms of ensuring no political factors are coming into play as the goal is to obey the law.
A recently published post by Musk on the app added a question for the current EU industry head Thierry Breton. This is where he put out his concern regarding X and whether other social media apps were being treated in the same manner or if it was only his company that was being targeted.
He was not shy to blatantly add how X may have some issues but that does not mean others are perfect. In reality, he added that they’re much worse and therefore must be under scrutiny too.
After the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, X and its arch-rival social media apps were blasted with all sorts of fake material including misleading data and inaccurate images.
On that note, letters were sent out to the heads of TikTok, Alphabet, X, and even Meta which served as a reminder of their duties under the law in terms of handling dangerous and unlawful material through apps.
As a response to that, a list of integral steps was then highlighted where all measures taken to prevent the spread of such material topped the list. This included a new challenge brought forward by Musk to Breton regarding the allegations of disinformation.
Photo: DIW-AIGen
Read next: Recent Study Shows that ChatGPT Can Act Biased When Asked About Environmental Justice and Issues
The news comes in the form of a series of allegations that were partially linked to several posts that had to do with the Gaza-Israel war. Therefore, the act was deemed to be a complete breach of the obligations as underlined in the DSA, making it the first probe of its kind to arise.
The Digital Services Act first came about full throttle in November 2022 and since then, it’s caused quite a shakeup in the world of online apps. This includes all leading search engines that must do more to curb the growing figures for illegal content as well as any risks observed to user security.
Meanwhile, this particular investigation in question has to do with the emphasis on curbing illegal material spread across the EU region as well as outlining the list of effective measures taken to curb how data continues to be manipulated like the famous community notes interface as revealed by the Commission recently.
During the start of 2023, we saw X rollout Community Notes that gave users the chance to add comments for posts while flagging fake material or those deemed to be misleading. This was a major effort as it bid farewell to just a solo team comprising professional fact-checkers who were hired to do the job instead.
This particular investigation is going to take into consideration a few aspects of the firm’s business strategy such as access to data that it solely provides to research teams.
So many researchers found on social media have been very vocal about how they terminated their studies linked to the X app or ended up in a position where they were forced to change it due to the behavior of its head and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. The latter has been very strict in terms of giving others access to the platform for this purpose as mentioned by Reuters in the past month.
This particular step that is being taken doesn’t find the X app guilty of any kind of wrongdoing, confirmed one leading EU member. It also does not speak about X disobeying the Digital Services Act, it added.
The only purpose is to further investigate the platform for any claims that have arisen in recent times so that they’re put to rest after detailed scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk did confirm how his company is committed to obeying the DSA and will cooperate until the end with the whole process of regulation as outlined yesterday through a public statement.
For now, X continually reiterates how its main goals have to do with obeying the DSA and providing relentless cooperation with the whole scrutiny process. Moreover, it’s also working hard in terms of ensuring no political factors are coming into play as the goal is to obey the law.
A recently published post by Musk on the app added a question for the current EU industry head Thierry Breton. This is where he put out his concern regarding X and whether other social media apps were being treated in the same manner or if it was only his company that was being targeted.
He was not shy to blatantly add how X may have some issues but that does not mean others are perfect. In reality, he added that they’re much worse and therefore must be under scrutiny too.
After the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, X and its arch-rival social media apps were blasted with all sorts of fake material including misleading data and inaccurate images.
On that note, letters were sent out to the heads of TikTok, Alphabet, X, and even Meta which served as a reminder of their duties under the law in terms of handling dangerous and unlawful material through apps.
As a response to that, a list of integral steps was then highlighted where all measures taken to prevent the spread of such material topped the list. This included a new challenge brought forward by Musk to Breton regarding the allegations of disinformation.
Read next: Recent Study Shows that ChatGPT Can Act Biased When Asked About Environmental Justice and Issues
