Elon Musk's X faces big trouble as EU launches 'illegal content' probe

The EU stated on Monday that it was initiating "formal infringement proceedings" against Elon Musk's X platform, through legislation that cracks down on illegal internet content, following the discovery of misinformation linked to Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel.

The lawsuit taken against the former Twitter corporation is the first against a significant online platform since the Digital Services Act (DSA), a comprehensive piece of EU legislation that increases online companies' accountability for content moderation, was put into effect in Brussels.

"Today's opening of formal proceedings against X makes it clear that, with the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are 'too big to care' has come to an end," said the bloc's digital enforcer, EU commissioner Thierry Breton.

"We will now start an in-depth investigation of X's compliance with the DSA obligations concerning countering the dissemination and amplification of illegal content and disinformation in the EU, transparency of the platforms and design of the user interface."

The European Commission stated that Monday's investigation was prompted by an initial information-gathering probe it conducted against X in October, which examined "the dissemination of illegal content."