EU Commission initiates investigation against X over alleged DSA breaches

The European Commission has initiated its formal proceedings against X (formerly known as Twitter) over alleged breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The decision to initiate proceedings was made based on a preliminary investigation that included the analysis of X’s risk assessment report, transparency report, and responses to a formal request for information. Essentially, the EU began its preliminary investigation in October over the spread of online disinformation and violent content about Israel’s war with Hamas. Namely, Thierry Breton sent letters to companies including X, Meta, TikTok, and Alphabet, reminding them of their DSA obligations to moderate harmful content.

Commission’s concerns include X’s compliance with DSA obligations regarding countering the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, the effectiveness of measures to combat information manipulation on the platform, the transparency of X’s platform, and the suspected deceptive design of its user interface.

There is no specific deadline to conclude the formal proceedings, as the investigation duration is based on the case’s complexity, X’s cooperation with the Commission, and the exercise of defense rights.

Why does it matter?

As the European Commission states, this is the ‘first formal proceedings launched by the Commission to enforce the first EU-wide horizontal framework for online platforms’ responsibility.’ Considering that the DSA was recently adopted as a law, this investigation would show its effectiveness in countering the spread of harmful content online while also setting a precedent for similar cases. Will the EU achieve the prevention of harmful content without derogating the right to free speech? That is yet to be seen.