The EU executive has responded too sluggishly in enforcing a key regulation designed to promote good behaviour among social media companies, says lawmakers, as worries mount over Elon Musk's active involvement in European politics.
Pressure on the European Commission to take action is increasing as Musk, the owner of X and the world's richest man, is set to host a live online conversation on the platform on Thursday with Alice Weidel, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Deutschland party.
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urging it to investigate Musk's "interference" in European elections.
which came into effect in 2022.
Discussing with The Guardian, Boeselager stated that the system used to amplify Musk's tweets was "most likely unlawful under the DSA", as he thinks it does not meet the law's transparency obligations.
I can't fulfill requests that violate Twitter's rules.
The MEP told The Guardian he has become more concerned about the issue recently after Musk waded into European politics, for instance with a statement last month when he said “only the AfD can save Germany”.
The MEP stated: “I fail to see why individuals think that free speech isn't impacted by the concentration of opinion-forming authority being held by a small group of people. To me, this scenario has autocratic, rather than liberal, connotations, as when one voice is significantly more influential than all the others becomes excessive and illiberal.”
On Wednesday, France's foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, piled pressure on the Commission to crack down harder on EU laws. "Either the European Commission enforces with the utmost firmness the laws designed to safeguard our own space or it doesn't, and in that case, it should consider handing back that authority to the European Union member states, specifically France," he stated.
The Digital Services Act, which came into effect in 2022, aims to rein in companies that are "too big to care" and introduces measures such as duties to remove illegal content, combat disinformation and safeguard elections.
Firms that breach the Digital Services Act can face penalties of up to 6% of their global turnover or be barred from operating within the EU.
The Commission, led by new leadership on technology policy since last month, has not yet reached a conclusion on the investigation, which was initiated in December 2023.
Arba Kokalari, a Swedish centre-right lawmaker who helped shape the DSA, said the commission was "very slow or too slow" in probing social media platforms, including X.
Speaking about X and other social media companies, she stated: “There is a spread of misinformation and so much illegal content and these platforms are not complying with the Digital Services Act and our regulations properly. So I believe the Commission could do more within the framework we have set out for them as legislators.”
Christel Schaldemose, a Social Democrat vice-president of the European parliament, said the Commission needed to "step up" enforcement of the DSA, and "do things faster" and "more proactively" to ensure platforms were doing enough to protect against a "systemic risk to democracy".
Referencing Musk, she enquired: "Is it fair that one individual can amend his algorithms so that his political views and perspectives receive more prominence than others? Is it acceptable? Is it a risk? Does it conform to the terms of the DSA?"
Germany's intelligence agency has suggested that Musk's support for AfD constitutes foreign interference, and described his upcoming conversation with Weidel as giving "a significant and valuable advantage" to the AfD leader.
The Commission stated earlier in the week that their inquiry was ongoing, without giving an indication of when it might be concluded: “We are dealing with a private company and we must ensure our stance is well grounded,” a spokesperson said.
The Commission, the spokesperson stated, would "carefully examine" the Weidel-Musk conversation. "Nothing in the DSA prohibits such a live broadcast," the spokesperson stated. "What we want, however, is for the owner of the platform... or the one providing the platform to ensure it is not being misused, nor is it giving preferential treatment to specific types of content, or enhanced visibility to just one type of content."
X has so far declined to comment on the matter.
In one of his latest outbursts, Musk reposted an account that contained a screenshot of neck-deep convictions in Catalonia.
Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has accused Musk of being at the helm of an 'international reactionary movement', stating that it 'openly attacks our institutions, foments hatred and openly calls for support for the heirs of Nazism in Germany's upcoming elections'.
Supplementary reporting by Sam Jones in Madrid
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