X (formerly Twitter) has been criticized in the European Union for having the worst ratio of disinformation/misinformation to posts that do not spread falsehoods among major social networks.
With a release discussing the latest updates from other platforms that have signed up to combat disinformation under a strengthened EU Code of Practice that has been linked to compliance with the bloc's legally binding Digital Services Act (DSA), the Securities and Exchange Commissioner said. Transparency, Vera Jourova, said that X's poor performance was evaluated during a pilot testing phase of a new methodology developed by the signatories of the Code.
“A great novelty of the Code is now the publication of the first set of structural indicators, such as the ease of finding disinformation content, the degree of participation that said content receives or indicators on sources. These indicators, developed by the signatories, constitute a novel and unprecedented vision of misinformation on digital platforms,” he suggested. “This information is crucial to understanding how effective the platforms' efforts are to combat this threat even more efficiently.” This is a very valuable industrial proposal that has great potential although it still needs to be developed further.
“Here, the signatories have decided to carry out a pilot phase in three member states to evaluate the methodology of two of those indicators. “X, former Twitter, which is no longer under the Code, is the platform with the highest proportion of erroneous publications or misinformation.”
The Elon Musk-owned platform abandoned the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation in May, shortly after EU lawmakers warned that policy changes made after Musk's takeover were fueling Kremlin propaganda and criticized the company for its irregular reports. The EU's top diplomat also publicly criticized Twitter for ending free access to its API to researchers, saying the action could threaten the study of misinformation.
Last year, the Commission also warned Musk about the “big job” that lies ahead if the platform wants to avoid falling into the incoming DSA.
Under Musk, X has pushed the use of an existing crowdsourced fact-checking feature (renamed Community Notes) that essentially seeks to delegate the problem to an exhaustive process of aggregating opinions from platform users, some of which can be added as contextual notes to dubious tweets. At the same time, the erratic billionaire has set out to remove signals that Twitter users could previously rely on to help evaluate the quality of information contained in tweets, such as removing labels from state-affiliated media outlets. advertising and replace legacy account verifications with pay-to-publish.
X was contacted for a response to the EU's analysis of the proportion of disinformation it is spreading. She responded with an automated email that said, “Busy now, check back later.”
In April, X/Twitter was named as one of the 19 largest platforms facing the strictest level of regulation under the EU DSA. The law imposes on so-called very large online platforms (VLOPs) the obligation to evaluate the social risks associated with the use of algorithms and establish “reasonable, proportionate and effective mitigation measures” for the identified risks, with their reports and mitigation plans. subject to independent audit and oversight by the Commission.
We contacted the Commission with questions about how it plans to respond to this latest analysis of X's role in the spread of disinformation.
Penalties for non-compliance with the DSA can be up to 6% of global annual turnover and the Commission had already wanted non-compliance with the Disinformation Code of Practice to be taken into account in its assessments. Therefore, the price of X ignoring EU warnings about disinformation could be high, even as its Advertising revenue has plummeted since Musk's acquisition as a result of its failure to address the toxicity and harmful misinformation fueling an exodus of advertisers, and reducing profits would effectively reduce any future penalties X could face under the DSA.
Subscription revenue from a revamped paid offering from Twitter Blue (now called to all users a small fee. However, ending free access to .
Misinformation and spammers can rush to fill the void, creating a parody of activity, but without a critical mass of genuine users paying attention and providing value and vitality (i.e. the lifeblood of a company). bona fide information platform:X could mark the point for Twitter's demise.
Also today, a report disinformation watchdog NewsGuard found that Musk's decision to remove labels denoting state or government-affiliated media accounts led to an increase in propaganda spread on X, with Russia's RT (Russian perspective television platform) getting the higher profits according to the analysis.
From this report:
In the 90 days after the removal of state-sponsored labels on 70 percent compared to the previous 90-day period, according to a NewsGuard analysis using data from media monitoring platform Meltwater. NewsGuard's findings demonstrate how foreign actors can now reach a broader (and potentially more susceptible) audience as users interact with accounts, possibly unaware that these sources essentially exist to spread propaganda.
Russia's RT gained the highest share after X users no longer had access to information... it is operated by the country's president, Vladimir Putin. He almost doubled his commitment, to 2.5 million likes and reposts 1.3 million, after the removal of X's brands. Following the change in the policy of said platform, X, Russia's TASS increased its share 63 percent, Iran's PressTV for 97 percent and China's Global Times for 26 percent.
