European Union Warns Twitter/X: “Mr. Musk knows he’s not out of the woods”
The European Union recently issued a stern warning to Twitter/X (formerly Twitter) regarding the proliferation of fake news on its platform. According to the European Commission, Twitter/X is considered the platform with the highest level of disinformation.
The European Commissioner responsible for this case, Vera Jourova, emphasized the importance of adhering to strict legal obligations. Jourova stated, “Mr. Musk knows that he is not out of the woods by abandoning the code of best practices. There are strict legal obligations. So I want to tell Twitter/X that you must comply. We will be watching what you do.”
To reinforce their stance, the EU countries passed the Digital Services Act, which mandates that platforms must actively combat false information. Failure to comply can result in fines of up to 6% of their global turnover.
To gain a better understanding of the disinformation landscape, the EU has developed indicators and launched a study in Spain, Poland, and Slovakia. This study revealed intense Russian propaganda aimed at promoting the narrative that democracy is no better than autocracy. The executive report highlighted that disinformation actors on Twitter/X had significantly more followers than those who did not promote disinformation.
While Twitter/X was identified as the worst platform for fake news, Facebook ranked as the second worst according to the study. However, the authors acknowledged that Meta (formerly Facebook) has expanded its fact-checking efforts by partnering with 26 organizations, covering 22 EU languages.
Google, on the other hand, took action by deactivating 400 YouTube channels involved in influence operations linked to the Russian state. TikTok also made efforts in terms of fact-checking, while Microsoft warned LinkedIn and prevented the creation of millions of fake accounts in version 6.7.
In the fight against misinformation, platforms can also adjust their algorithms to prioritize posts from users who share credible information. This topic was discussed in detail in our previous article, which you can revisit here.
