“We will be watching what you do,” Elon Musk has been warned by the European Commissoner after X (formerly Twitter) was found to have the highest ratio of disinformation posts of all large social media platforms.
The EU report came in the weeks after sweeping new laws on disinformation were brought in by the bloc.
X has left the EU’s code of practice which ensured social media platforms got ready in time to operate within the confines of the new laws, but the EU has been clear that the new laws will still apply to X and it could face a ban.
“Mr Musk knows he is not off the hook by leaving the code of practice,” European commissioner Věra Jourová, who is responsible for the implementation of the new anti-disinformation code, told press.
“There are obligations under the hard law. So my message for Twitter/X is you have to comply. We will be watching what you do.”
The EU’s report was the first to analyze posts that will be deemed illegal across the EU under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force in August.
Facebook, Google, TikTok and Microsoft were all analyzed and have all signed up to the EU’s code of practice. X was analyzed but refused to participate and therefore didn’t submit information on areas such as fact-checking.
Musk’s platform was found to be the worst offender in terms of the ratio of disinformation posts, followed by Facebook.
The EU is particularly concerned about meddling in several upcoming European elections from Russian hackers.
The news comes a week after Donald Trump Jr’s account on the platform was hacked, with hackers announcing his father’s death and posting sexually explicit messages.
