The microblogging site, “X” has said that the claims by the European Commission that the Elon Musk-owned platform is the most notorious for misinformation and disinformation is untrue.
While the EU’s claim is hinged on how social media platforms are able to control propaganda relating to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war on their platforms, the company said the EU’s data also contradicts the claim as other platforms recorded more growth in pro-Kremlin accounts than X between February and December 2022.
X said it has also been tackling misinformation through its introduction of Community Notes, which provides contexts to posts relating to the Ukraine conflict. The company also reiterated its commitment to complying with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
Data framing
Reacting to the EU’s claim via a post on its platform, X said:
- “The EU’s own data shows other services saw greater numbers of total subscribers. We disagree with the overall framing of this data and believe that the data does not fit the narrative being covered in the media. This important debate should take into account the full range of actions taken by platforms and recognize the importance of protecting free expression.
- “More than 700 unique Community Notes have appeared on posts related to the Ukraine conflict. Through Community Notes’ new “Notes on Media” feature, which automatically matches notes on an image or video to other posts that contain matching media, these notes appeared on over 1200 additional posts. These notes are in numerous languages and are written specifically for local audiences.”
What the EU said
The EU Commission’s Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourova, had on Tuesday declared that X, formerly Twitter, is the social media platform with the largest ratio of misinformation and disinformation posts.
She said X performed woefully during a pilot test of a new methodology developed to assess compliance with the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation. According to her, while other platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Microsoft, and Meta’s family apps have taken some measures to address disinformation, X was harboring more disinformation actors.
- X, former Twitter, who is not under the Code anymore is the platform with the largest ratio of mis/disinformation posts. The pilot also showed that disinformation actors were found to have significantly more followers than their non-disinformation counterparts and tend to have joined the platform more recently than non-disinformation users,” Jourova declared.
According to the EU Commission, all the social network platforms have been asked to monitor specifically disinformation about the Russian war in Ukraine and recent assessment shows that many of them have been taking significant steps in this regard.
The VP said the platforms are expected to do more to achieve better results, adding that Russian propaganda and disinformation are still very present on online platforms.
