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EU warns Musk after X found to have highest rate of disinformation of all big social media platforms [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-09-26
From today’s The Guardian and EURACTIV:
Elon Musk has been warned by the EU Commission to comply with sweeping new laws on fake news and Russian propaganda after his site formerly known as Twitter was found to have the highest rate of disinformation posts of all large social media platforms.
Facebook was the second-worst offender, according to the first-ever report recording posts that will be deemed illegal across the EU under the new Digital Services Act which came into force in August.
However, Facebook and other tech giants such as Google, TikTok and Microsoft, have signed up to a code of practice which the EU has drawn up to ensure they could be ready in time to operate within the confines of the new laws.
Twitter/X left the code of practice, but is obliged under the new law to comply with the rules or face a ban across the EU.
Google-owned YouTube has told the EU that it has removed more than 400 channels involved in co-ordinated influence operations linked to the Russian state-sponsored Internet Research Agency.
Google has removed advertising from almost 300 sites linked to state-funded propaganda sites.
Meta has expanded its fact-checking to 26 partners covering 22 languages in the EU.
TikTok fact-checking covers Russian, Ukrainian and 17 other languages via a new partnership with the Reuters news agency.
Microsoft has downgraded questionable information in relation to 800,000 search queries. about the war in Ukraine.
Commissioner Jourová said the Kremlin propaganda was a multimillion-euro weapon of mass manipulation aimed both internally at the Russians as well as Europeans and the rest of the world and the very large platforms must address this risk. The war in Ukraine was the most frequent topic for propaganda but the platforms also reported hate speech in relation to migration, LBGTQ+ communities and the climate crisis.
“I think one of the advantages of disinformation is that they are so predictable,” said Jourová, making it easier for factcheckers to find. On Twitter/X, she said “disinformation actors were found to have significantly more followers than their non-disinformation counterparts and tend to have joined the platform more recently than non-disinformation users”.
Failure to comply with the new EU law could lead to hefty fines of up to 6% of the company’s global annual turnover and in case of repeated offences or willful non-compliance to a complete ban across the entire EU.
The decisive moment will come at the end of the year when very large online platforms must publish their first risk assessment to be audited by external auditors. However, Twitter/X’s ability to comply must be called into question after its wholesale dismantling of existing transparency and safety features.
However, unlike the other large tech companies, Europe has never been a major market for Twitter/X — its market in the UK, which has now left the EU, is worth roughly as much, if not more, as the entire EU.
Predicably, Twitter/X replied to both The Guardian’s and EURACTIV’s request for comment with a poop emoji.
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