Elon Musk is embroiled in a major public row with the European Union over attempts to shut down free speech following the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has taken to X (formerly Twitter) – itself owned by billionaire business magnate and investor Musk – to share an “urgent letter” letter addressed to him about “DSA obligations”.
Benton wrote in a tweet alongside this: “Following the terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel, we have indications of X/Twitter being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU.
“Urgent letter to @elonmusk on #DSA obligations.”
But Musk has hit back in a tweet of his own, writing: “Our policy is that everything is open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports.
However, the X owner appears to have had the last word – at least for now – writing: “We take our actions in the open. No backroom deals. Please post your concerns explicitly on this platform.”
Breton said in his letter to Musk that fake and manipulated imagery circulating on X includes “repurposed old images of unrelated armed conflicts or military footage that actually originated from video games, adding: “This appears to be manifestly false or misleading information.”
The EU’s digital rights chief also warned the X owner that authorities have been flagging “potentially illegal content that could violate EU laws and “you must be timely, diligent and objective” in removing it when warranted.
The social media platform has insisted it is trying to take action on a flood of posts sharing graphic media, violent speech, and hateful conduct about the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
X added it’s treating the crisis with its highest level of response.
Its safety team had said in a post late on Monday: “In the past couple of days, we’ve seen an increase in daily active users on @X in the conflict area, plus there have been more than 50 million posts globally focusing on the weekend’s terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas.
“As the events continue to unfold rapidly, a cross-company leadership group has assessed this moment as a crisis requiring the highest level of response.”
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