EU Steps Up Probe of Whether X Breached Content Moderation Rules

A woman holds a smartphone displaying the logo of U.S. social media platform X, in Nantes, France, on Nov. 29, 2023. Photo by LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images

The European Union announced on Jan. 17 that it is stepping up its investigation of whether X has broken its rules on content moderation.

The European Commission, which acts as the bloc’s executive branch, is conducting the probe and has ordered the social media site to hand over internal documents relating to its recommendation algorithm.

The platform, which was known as Twitter before Elon Musk took over the site in 2022, has until Feb. 15 to comply.

The EU has also issued a retention order to the platform for all relevant documents relating to how the algorithm might be amended between Jan. 17, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2025; and it has requested access to information on how the site amplifies content.

“These steps will allow the Commission services to take all relevant facts into account in the complex assessment under the DSA [Digital Services Act] of systemic risks and their mitigation,” the commission said in a statement.

EU digital chief Henna Virkkunen said in the statement: “Today we are taking further steps to shed light on the compliance of X’s recommender systems with the obligations under the DSA. We are committed to ensuring that every platform operating in the EU respects our legislation, which aims to make the online environment fair, safe, and democratic for all European citizens.”

Under the DSA, online platforms must let their users know why their content has been removed or why access to their account has been restricted, and the platforms must provide reasons for their content moderation decisions.

Neither X as a company nor Musk personally has yet commented on the move by the EU.

The EU, which has undertaken probes of several U.S. tech companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta, began its investigation of X in 2023. Earlier this week, it played down suggestions it was reviewing its investigations into Big Tech because of President-elect Donald Trump’s impending return to the White House.

Trump, who will take his place back behind the Resolute Desk on Jan. 20, has been a vocal critic of numerous policy positions taken by the EU.

His election victory has seen something of a shift in Silicon Valley, with both Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and X’s Musk taking aim at what they see as overregulation by the EU.

Last week, Meta scrapped its U.S. fact-checking programs, and Zuckerberg said he would work with the incoming administration to push back on censorship around the world, highlighting the increasing number of laws he views as censorship in Europe.

Musk, whom Trump has appointed to co-lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE,  has also clashed with European regulators and incurred the ire of mainstream politicians on the continent by backing the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and endorsing the Reform UK Party, prompting some lawmakers to accuse him of meddling in elections.

Musk rejected these accusations and said that these criticisms of him and the EU’s laws are an affront to democracy and free speech.

Last week, the billionaire interviewed AfD leader Alice Weidel on X, sparking much controversy in Berlin and prompting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to label the discussion “completely unacceptable.”

Weidel’s party is currently second in the polls with around 20 percent support, ahead of Scholz’s Social Democrats but behind the Christian Democratic Union.

Following the livestream interview, the EU Commission said Musk is free to speak his mind and can hold livestreams with politicians but that the commission is looking into whether X’s algorithms boost a certain narrative and “shadow-ban” other views, thereby posing a “risk” to fair elections.

Reuters contributed to this report.