European Commission warns Musk against spreading Russian propaganda

The X (formerly Twitter) social media, managed by Elon Musk, was called to be more responsible in the fight against the spread of Russian disinformation. The Vice-President of the European Commission, Věra Jourová, made such statement.

X previously opted out of the EU’s voluntary disinformation code but is still subject to strict content monitoring rules enshrined in European law.

“Mr [Elon] Musk knows that he is not off the hook by leaving the code of practice because now we have the Digital Services Act fully enforced. So my message for Twitter is you have to comply with the hard law and we will be watching what you are doing,” Jourová said.

Russia started a “war of ideas” to pollute Europe’s information space with half-truths and lies, as well as “to create a false image that democracy is no better than autocracy”, Yurova said. The Vice-President of the European Commission called on Google, Microsoft, Meta, TikTok and other large platforms to resist Russian manipulation.

“Especially as we have to expect that the Kremlin and others will be active before elections,” Jourová added.

Elon Musk’s X social network played an important role in spreading Russian propaganda about Ukraine during the full-scale invasion, according to a European Commission investigation.

Earlier, it became known that last year, Musk secretly ordered to stop the work of Starlink near Crimea. This is how the billionaire tried to thwart Ukraine’s attack on the Russian navy to prevent an alleged escalation on the part of Moscow.