X to Face Probe for Alleged Breach of EU's Social Media Law

Facts

• The EU on Monday announced plans to investigate Elon Musk's social media platform X over suspected violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA) — it will be the bloc's first proceeding against a tech company under the law. ¹
• In a post on X, European Commissioner Thierry Burton said that the EU's regulatory body would "open formal infringement proceedings against @X" to see if the platform's free speech rules violate parts of the DSA. ²
• The EU alleges X may have violated transparency obligations, as well as obligations to counter illegal content and disinformation. The platform is also under probe because it's suspected of having a user interface with a deceptive design.³
• In October, the EU officially warned X that it had received "indications" the platform was "being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU" related to the Gaza conflict. ⁴
• In response, Musk reportedly threatened to rescind X's availability in Europe or block users in the EU from accessing it. ⁵
• If the European Commission finds X liable for violations, it could impose fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover, among other sanctions. ⁶

Sources: ¹Associated Press News, ² ABC News, ³FOX Business, ⁴ InfoWars, ⁵ Euractiv, and ⁶ TechCrunch.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by France 24. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, now X, he has opened the floodgates to extremism and disinformation, allowing for rampant violations of the DSA. Musk gutted the platform's content moderation team and has flat-out celebrated policies that allow users to push toxic content into the world. Hate speech and conspiracy theories have become commonplace on X, and the EU has an obligation to protect its residents from dangerous actors that seek to poison the minds of the public.
• Narrative B, as provided by The National Pulse+. The pro-censorship regime running the EU is bringing out the big guns to punish Elon Musk for daring to promote free speech. The hypocritical "pro-democracy" nations can't fathom their citizens being exposed to new ideas and are determined to eradicate wrong thoughts by any means necessary. The DSA's regulations have been made specifically to target Musk after he freed Twitter from censorship, and authorities are ready to strike back against freedom fighters who question the status quo.
• Nerd Narrative, as provided by Metaculus. There's a 48% chance that Twitter will announce a policy of marking tweets as possibly AI-generated before 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.