The European Union Asks Meta To Actively Manage Misinformation Around The Israel War

12.10.2023

It has been a day since Thierry Breton, The Internal Markets Commissioner of the EU, released a public letter to Elon Musk’s X. He now issues a similar pledge to the Meta platform to proactively manage misinformation around the Israel War.

Breton’s post also mentions that the Meta platform can become subject to fines and face an issue regarding sanctions in the EU if it doesn’t take the right measures.

Our policy is that everything is open source and transparent, an approach that I know the EU supports.

Please list the violations you allude to on 𝕏, so that that the public can see them.

Merci beaucoup.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 10, 2023

Breton has used the EU’s DSA or Digital Services Act regulations to reach out to Meta and X regarding the management of misinformation around the Israel War.

Further, in his letter, he raises concerns about the AI-generated fake news and information ruling in the Meta platform. Along with the Israel War, the platform has been offering misleading and harmful information about the Slovakian election.

Breton has asked Meta to revert with its changing measures in managing misinformation (especially related to the Slovakian election) within 24 hours.

However, in the public requests to Meta and X, the European Union is yet to show specific examples. The European Union has referred to authoritarian third-party examples to deal with this grave matter and issue public letters against these social media platforms.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, has asked Breton to provide “specific examples.” Musk states that the platform’s policy has always been “open source and transparent.”

Breton has further replied to Musk’s post and said that the X owner is “well aware of your users’, and authorities’, reports on fake content and glorification of violence.”

Thus, Breton has shifted the responsibilities to manage misinformation on the X platform. Nevertheless, the massive spread of misinformation on platforms like X and Meta can boost hatred across communities and countries. This is precisely what Breton has been highlighting in his communication with the platforms.

However, misinformation around the Israel war can be better managed if the EU comes up with direct examples instead of third-party insights. Also, this problem will hardly be resolved if the platforms don’t take proactive measures, as none but the app owners know how the internal operations go on.

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