EU launches probe into X’s handling of information

The European Union has opened an investigation into Elon Musk’s X to determine if it’s following the region’s content moderation policies.

Thierry Breton, a prominent EU regulator, announced the start of the probe in an X post on Monday.

“Today we are opening formal infringement proceedings against @X,” he wrote. “Suspected breach of obligations to counter #IllegalContent and #Disinformation.”

The investigation is set to determine whether X broke the EU’s Digital Services Act, which lays out strict regulations as to what content can appear on social media. In the probe, regulators will determine if X’s community-sourced content moderation policy, dubbed Community Notes, has done enough to curb information.

The probe has its origins with the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist raid on Israel. After war broke out, fake or misleading videos popped up on social media sites, including X. While many other sites quickly took down the videos, X was criticized for allowing some videos to stay up too long, though with Community Notes attached to them indicating they were untrue. Videos depicting extreme violence are also not allowed under the DSA.

Regulators will also investigate if X’s new data pricing model meets the DSA’s transparency rules. After Mr. Musk took over X last year, he began charging developers to use the company’s data. This decision made it tough for investigators to track sites like X.

If regulators find X violated the DSA, it could incur penalties of up to 6% of its global annual revenue.

Mr. Musk seemed to dismiss the investigation as biased.

“Are you taking action against other social media?” he asked Mr. Breton on X. “Because if you have those issues with this platform, and none are perfect, the others are much worse.”