European Union Warns Musk to Remove ‘Violent and Terrorist Content’ From Twitter, or Else

A top European Union official on Tuesday warned Elon Musk to get a handle on misinformation and other harmful content being distributed on X (formerly Twitter) amid escalating hostilities between Israeli armed forces and Hamas militants. In response, Musk demanded that the European Commission identify specific violations of EU internet regulations on X “so that the public can see them.”

Thierry Breton, who manages internet policy as Commissioner for Internal Market of the EU, shared his letter to Musk on the platform, outlining several areas of concern. Breton explained that with X being used to “disseminate illegal content and disinformation” in the union, the platform was at risk of failing to comply with the Digital Services Act. These new guidelines, which compel tech companies to more strictly moderate hate speech, misinformation, and other harmful material, took effect on Aug. 25.

Breton noted that X needed to be transparent about its terms and enforce them adequately, alluding to “violent and terrorist content that appears to circulate on your platform.” He also said X had to be “timely, diligent and objective in taking action” by removing such content. Finally, Breton stressed the need for “effective mitigation measures” in dealing with disinformation, such as “repurposed old images of unrelated armed conflicts or military footage that actually originated from video games.” (Amid the violence in the Middle East, trolls on X have successfully presented clips from the hyper-realistic combat game Arma 3 as video from the front lines of the conflict.)

Commissioner Breton further urged Musk to be in contact with European authorities on efforts to address these problems and mentioned that he would be following up on other DSA compliance issues as well. “I remind you that following the opening of a potential investigation and a finding of non-compliance, penalties can be imposed,” he concluded. The terms of the DSA state that companies with more than 45 million active users may be fined up to 6 percent of their global revenue.

Musk responded casually to the prospect of a regulatory showdown in Europe. “Our policy is that everything is open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports,” he tweeted in reply to Breton. “Please list the violations you allude to on X, so that that the public can see them. Merci beaucoup.”

The terse exchange follows months of friction between Musk, who has overseen the notoriously lax moderation of X while gutting trust and safety teams, and the EU, which is seeking to impose greater control over online platforms that can be abused. An early sign of trouble came in May, when Musk pulled X out of the union’s voluntary Code of Practice against disinformation. At the time, Breton tweeted to the company, “You can run but you can’t hide,” thanks to the DSA. “Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under DSA as of August 25. Our teams will be ready for enforcement.”

Then, in June, Breton met with Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino during a series of consultations with tech leaders in Silicon Valley to assess their readiness for the new rules, and found that X still needed to get up to speed. “With two months to go before the new EU regulation kicks in, work needs to continue for the systems to be in place and work effectively and quickly,” Breton said after observing a “stress test” of X’s moderation systems.

But by September, after the DSA had become law, Musk himself was practically daring the EU to step in, personally amplifying a campaign against the Anti-Defamation League that was organized by notorious white nationalists and rife with antisemitic content. Still, it wasn’t until Musk was endorsing another antisemitic account to follow for real-time updates on the Israel-Hamas war that Breton saw fit to remind him of his obligation to clean up the website.

Instead, Musk seems busy enjoying how the horrific geopolitical situation is playing out there. Responding to a belligerent back-and-forth on Tuesday between Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, and the official government account of Israel, Musk tweeted, “Wow.” In another reply to these tweets, each a promise of retaliatory mass violence between nations, he added, “Amazing to see this exchange!”

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