Elon Musk May Discontinue X In Europe Over New Regulations

X (formerly Twitter) owned by billionaire Elon Musk is planning to drop its services in the European Union amid strict platform regulations in the region, according to a Reuters report.

Insiders with knowledge of the situation revealed to Reuters that the billionaire has deliberated on options like suspending the app’s availability in the region or preventing European Union users from using it.

The European Union introduced the Digital Services Act (DSA), a legal framework to combat the dissemination of harmful content, restrict specific user-targeting practices and facilitate the sharing of certain internal data with regulatory bodies and affiliated researchers, among other provisions.

European Union industry leader Thierry Breton called Elon Musk, on 11 October, to address the issue of disinformation on the social media platform in conjunction with Hamas’ attack on Israel. The aim was to ensure compliance with the new EU regulations on online content. On Tuesday, Breton highlighted X has been used for the dissemination of illegal content and disinformation within the EU as well.

In response to Breton’s post, Musk tweeted, “Our policy is open source and transparent, an approach that I understand the EU supports. Please provide a list of the violations you are referring to on X, so that the public can review them. Merci beaucoup.”

Breton, in turn, conveyed that it was Musk’s responsibility to demonstrate that he is implementing the principles he advocates while emphasising the EU’s commitment to stringent enforcement of compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA). “Vu, merci. You are well aware of reports from your users and authorities regarding fake content and the promotion of violence. It’s your responsibility to prove your commitment. My team is available to ensure DSA compliance, which the EU will continue to enforce rigorously,” he added.

Recently, Meta was hit with a record fine amounting to USD 1.3 billion by European Union privacy regulators for sending user data to the United States. 

Meanwhile, Amazon is fighting a legal battle against the EU’s proposed legislation designed to force Big Tech to police content online, arguing it is being unfairly targeted by the law.