European Parliament
European Parliament
29/07/2024 | Press release | Archived content
Preliminary findings against X on breaching the Digital Services Act and a secret deal with other platforms
Preliminary findings against X on breaching the Digital Services Act and a secret deal with other platforms
29.7.2024
Question for written answer E-001450/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Kinga Gál (PfE), Tamás Deutsch (PfE), Jean-Paul Garraud (PfE), Harald Vilimsky (PfE), Georg Mayer (PfE), Roman Haider (PfE), Klara Dostalova (PfE), Ondřej Knotek (PfE), Jaroslav Bžoch (PfE), Jana Nagyová (PfE), Jorge Martín Frías (PfE), Hermann Tertsch (PfE), Juan Carlos Girauta Vidal (PfE)
On 12 July 2024, the Commission released its preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act (DSA), accusing X of breaching transparency requirements[1]. So far, X is the only platform that has been accused of infringing the DSA. In reaction to this, Elon Musk claimed that the Commission had offered an illegal secret deal to X, the essence of which was that, if X secretly censored speech, the Commission would not fine the company. He also stated that, while other platforms had accepted the deal, X did not[2]. This raises serious concerns about the biased application of the DSA and the Commission's push to have politically undesirable content censored.
- 1.What were the terms of the secret deal offered by the Commission to social media platforms regarding content moderation?
- 2.Does the Commission believe that threatening and punishing platforms for refusing to censor certain political opinions is in line with EU values, such as the rule of law and fundamental rights?
- 3.How does it ensure that the application of the DSA does not result in the censorship of certain political opinions or in the restriction of freedom of speech?
Submitted: 29.7.2024