X, formerly known as Twitter, said in response to pressure from European Union regulators that it has removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts and removed tens of thousands of pieces of content since the group attacked Israel.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote a response to European Commissioner Thierry Breton on Thursday elaborating on the platform's actions to counter disinformation related to Hamas. Breton had threatened to take legal action against X under the Digital Services Act, Europe's law demanding more challenging content moderation. X and Meta have been explicitly targeted by the EU over their approach to content moderation and ordered to take more aggressive action to minimize disinformation spread by the terrorist organization.
"X is committed to serving the public conversation, especially in critical moments like this, and understands the importance of addressing any illegal content that may be disseminated through the platform," Yaccarino wrote. "There is no place on X for terrorist organizations or violent extremist groups, and we continue to remove such accounts in real-time, including proactive efforts."
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Today @lindayaX responded to @ThierryBreton’s letter detailing our work in response to the terrorist attack on Israel. pic.twitter.com/yZtaOVGpHG
— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) October 12, 2023
Yaccarino noted that X has removed tens of thousands of posts involving false information, suspended hundreds of accounts, and posted thousands of Community Notes offering fact-checks to related content. The X CEO also said that the platform was seeking to limit the sharing of posts that could "deceive or confuse people" and in some cases labeling posts to point out when it is misleading.
"We have received the reply by @X to our letter raising concerns about the spread of illegal content and disinformation related to the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel," Breton wrote on X. "The #DSA enforcement team will analyze the reply and decide on next steps."
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Breton sent X owner Elon Musk a letter on Tuesday stating he had 24 hours to provide a "prompt, accurate and complete" response to his request for action regarding the disinformation or risk penalization.
Meta was one of several Big Tech companies that signed an agreement with the EU to regulate content on its platform appropriately. X abstained from signing, and Musk has attempted to rally European politicians to push back on the Digital Services Act.