The European Union has opened an investigation into Elon Musk’s X to find out if it’s following the area’s content material moderation insurance policies.

Thierry Breton, a distinguished EU regulator, introduced the beginning of the probe in an X put up on Monday.

“As we speak we’re opening formal infringement proceedings towards @X,” he wrote. “Suspected breach of obligations to counter #IllegalContent and #Disinformation.”

The investigation is ready to find out whether or not X broke the EU’s Digital Companies Act, which lays out strict rules as to what content material can seem on social media. Within the probe, regulators will decide if X’s community-sourced content material moderation coverage, dubbed Group Notes, has executed sufficient to curb data.

The probe has its origins with the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist raid on Israel. After conflict broke out, faux or deceptive movies popped up on social media websites, together with X. Whereas many different websites shortly took down the movies, X was criticized for permitting some movies to remain up too lengthy, although with Group Notes hooked up to them indicating they had been unfaithful. Movies depicting excessive violence are additionally not allowed below the DSA.

Regulators may also examine if X’s new knowledge pricing mannequin meets the DSA’s transparency guidelines. After Mr. Musk took over X final 12 months, he started charging builders to make use of the corporate’s knowledge. This choice made it robust for investigators to trace websites like X.

If regulators discover X violated the DSA, it may incur penalties of as much as 6% of its world annual income.

Mr. Musk appeared to dismiss the investigation as biased.