Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – European regulators have sent an official letter to The request for an investigation follows the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel conflict which is thought to have worsened due to misleading content on internet platforms.

European Commissioner for the internal market Thierry Breton said his party was investigating whether X complies with the Digital Services Act (DSA) rules that apply in the European Union. The DSA sets rules that internet service providers must clean up negative content and hate speech.

“DSA protects our freedom of expression and democracy, including in critical conditions like now,” said Breton, quoted from CNBC International, Friday (13/10/2023).

The DSA policy has been in effect since August this year. Technically, internet services that have more than 45 million monthly active users (MAU) and operate in Europe are obliged to remove illegal content on their platforms. They should also share details of the methodology used.

If they fail to comply with the provisions of the DSA rules, platforms can be fined 6% of their total annual revenue in Europe.

To provide a warning to platform providers, Breton has sent a letter to the top brass of the tech giant. These include Elon Musk (X/Twitter), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), and Shou Zi Chew (TikTok).

The European Commission in its official statement said it had asked X to allow a more in-depth investigation. The European Commission wants to focus on investigating X’s compliance with the DSA in terms of policies and practices on tackling illegal content, handling user complaints, and risk measurement and mitigation.

X is required to submit information requested by the European Commission regarding the company’s ‘crisis handling protocol’ no later than 18 October. In addition, related data must be submitted no later than October 31, so that the European Commission can take next steps.

X declined to comment on the European Commission’s request for an investigation. However, X CEO Linda Yaccarino shared her response to Breton’s warning letter.

“In response to the recent attacks on Israel by Hamas, we deployed an internal team to handle the situation that occurred [dalam platform X],” he said.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(fab/fab)