EU takes action against Elon Musk's X over disinformation

DevCat@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 273 points –
EU takes action against Elon Musk's X over disinformation
bbc.com

The European Union has formally announced it suspects X, previously known as Twitter, of breaching its rules in areas including countering illegal content and disinformation.

Digital commissioner Thierry Breton set out the alleged infringements in a post on the social media platform.

He said X, which is owned by Elon Musk, was also suspected of breaching its obligations on transparency.

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Context:

Elon Musk’s X has instructed staff not to suspend users that post explicitly racist, sexist and homophobic content, or who send sexual material to another person, as part of a new policy that has radically stripped back the company’s moderation of abusive material.

https://www.businesspost.ie/news/exclusive-the-x-files-how-elon-musks-new-rules-allow-hate-to-flourish/

X is so fucked.

In terms of monetary fines, what're we talking here? And how long until it legit happens?

I want to live to see him go down in a blaze of lolz, but with how slow the legal system can move I don't have high hopes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital\_Services\_Act says that "Companies that do not comply with the new obligations risk fines of up to 6% on their annual turnover [i.e. revenue before expenses] in the European Union."

According to https://www.businessofapps.com/data/twitter-statistics/, twitters revenue was $4 billion in 2022. Let's assume it's $2 billion now. Also on that page, it shows half the revenue comes from USA, half 'rest of world', let's assume that means EU. So $1bn. 6% of that is $60 million. Per year.

Not exactly a killing blow, I guess. But paying that money has to come out of profits so this makes turning a profit significantly harder.