Ireland’s media regulator announced on Wednesday (12th) an unprecedented investigation into X (formerly Twitter) following allegations of inaction on Elon Musk’s platform in relation to criminal content.
Systematically ignoring complaints violates Article 20 of the DSA (Digital Services Act), the European law regulating social networks. X’s European arm is based in Irish territory, so the investigation is being carried out by the Irish authorities, Coimiciun na Mian.
The DSA requires social networks operating in Europe to maintain effective channels for receiving complaints from users.
When I contacted X, there was no response. The company has not maintained news outlets in Brazil or Europe since it came under Musk’s control in 2023.
This is the first investigation by the Irish regulator justified by the DSA, which is in force from November 2022. Ireland’s more permissive digital laws make it a preferred location for US tech giants.
“Today we are taking an important step towards ensuring a safer online experience for users across the European Union,” said John Evans, Digital Services Commissioner for Coimiciun na Méan.
Evans said authorities will investigate whether X adequately informed users of their right to object to the platform’s response to reports of content that may violate its terms of service. He said he needed to be informed of the platform’s decisions and the right to appeal, which is “the cornerstone of the DSA”.
The Irish regulator said the investigation was motivated by the work of a non-profit organization called HateAid.
The Germany-based organization filed a lawsuit against X in the Berlin area in 2023, alleging that the social network was not removing anti-Semitic content as required by local law. HateAid also claims that publications that promote bigotry and hatred against Jews violate the social network’s own terms of service.
The petition also cites the case of Travis Brown, a data analyst who was repeatedly blocked for retrieving data from X using automated methods. Brown, who studies how the far right spreads disinformation on platforms, was not allowed to appeal either punishment.
The case failed because a German court ruled that X, which is based in Ireland, was outside its jurisdiction.
HateAid also lobbied the Irish regulator to hand over to a German court the evidence on which the charges laid out in the March 2023 report were based. The document shows that after Musk bought Twitter, rebranded the platform and fired his entire content management team, there was a “significant increase in anti-Semitic and racist posts.”
The German organization analyzed 390,832 tweets and 15,073 posts on Mastodon, a less popular competitor of X, and found that the rate of disrespectful publications was six times higher on Musk’s platform: 2.95% vs. 0.44%.
The Irish regulator’s investigation will look into:
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If you report something that you believe violates the Terms of Service, whether you can appeal X’s decision not to remove your content.
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Whether people are properly informed of the consequences of their reports and of their right to appeal decisions.
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Does X have an internal complaint mechanism that is accessible and user-friendly?
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