Since the Hamas attack in Israel, launched on Saturday October 7, violent or erroneous videos, photos and information have circulated massively on the social network X (formerly Twitter). You can read anything and everything there, since nothing is verified and there no longer exists a reliability badge. The security account noted “an increase in the number of daily active users in the conflict zone”, with “more than 50 million messages worldwide” exchanged over the weekend about the war.
Among these posts, we can find fights from video games as well as anachronistic images and videos, some of which have been viewed several million times, such as the viral sequence showing children locked in cages.
Accounts coordinated to spread false information
The European Commission therefore threatened the platform with sanctions on Tuesday, calling on its boss Elon Musk to report within 24 hours on the circulation of false information and violent images linked to the conflict in Israel. “Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that your platform is being used to spread illegal content and disinformation in the EU,” wrote Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton, to Elon Musk, in a letter.
“Our policy is that everything is open and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports,” the billionaire responded to Thierry Breton directly on X, a few hours later. “Please list the violations you are referring to on X, so that the public can see them,” he added, before concluding with “Thank you very much,” in French.
Humiliating videos of hostages, decapitated bodies, filmed assassination… Social networks have been flooded with violent images but also with attempts at disinformation since the attacks carried out on Saturday morning by Hamas, a challenge for the platforms’ moderation teams. For example, a group of 67 X accounts spread coordinated disinformation about the war between Israel and Hamas, according to a research group published by NBC News.
The accounts, many of which had previously been dedicated to more innocuous topics like professional basketball or life in Japan and which showed no outside association, suddenly began posting similar content over the weekend, according to Alethea. a social media analytics company. Posts from these accounts have been viewed thousands of times.
“When you receive notifications of illegal content in the EU, you must act quickly, diligently and objectively and remove the content in question when justified,” he reminded. This obligation arises in particular from the new European legislation on digital services (DSA) in force since the end of August for 19 major platforms. A constraint more difficult than before for X to respect. After his takeover of Twitter last year, Elon Musk carried out a massive wave of layoffs which decimated the moderation teams.
Musk has 24 hours to “provide a response”
The boss of Brussels was concerned at the end of September about the rate of misinformation on the social network, pointing out its poor results during tests carried out on several platforms. Furthermore, since last week, links and press articles shared on X only appear in the form of an image, without title or description, which risks reducing the use of real information sites.
The group defends itself and claims to have moderated online publications by limiting sensitive content, monitoring “anti-Semitic speech” or deleting “newly created accounts affiliated with Hamas”. Elon Musk himself has attracted a lot of criticism for having encouraged his approximately 160 million followers on X to learn about the Israel-Hamas conflict by following two accounts known for spreading false information and anti-Semitic remarks. The billionaire then deleted his post but it had been viewed millions of times.
Thierry Breton reminded the American boss of “the very specific obligations” incumbent on him in terms of content moderation, still within the framework of the DSA. “You must be highly transparent and clear about the content permitted by your terms of service and enforce your own policies consistently and diligently,” the commissioner wrote.
The commissioner also invited Elon Musk to “urgently” ensure that his systems “are effective” and “to inform” Brussels “of the crisis measures that will be taken”. “I urge you to provide a rapid, precise and complete response to this request within the next 24 hours,” he ordered. “I remind you that following the potential opening of an investigation and a finding of non-compliance, sanctions may be imposed,” he warned.
“Elon Musk’s changes to the platform entirely benefit terrorists and war propagandists,” said Emerson Brooking, a digital forensics researcher at the Wired media. Experts also criticize Elon Musk for having reinstated accounts propagating conspiracy theories and setting up a program to share advertising revenue with content creators, accused of wanting to boost the number of clicks to the detriment of the quality and veracity of the content. information disseminated.