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Elon Musk’s X tops list for disinformation on social media

By Nithya Bose in Twitter/X News, posted September 27, 2023

X, formerly Twitter, has the highest ratio of disinformation among six major social networks, a European Commission study has found.

It examined over 6,000 unique social media posts across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X, and YouTube.

The study analyzed content in Spain, Poland, and Slovakia, which are at risk of disinformation due to elections or their proximity to the conflict in Ukraine.

Vera Jourova, EU's Values and Transparency Commissioner, warned: "My message for [X] is: you have to comply with the hard law.

“We'll be watching what you're doing.”

TrustLab, a disinformation monitoring start-up, conducted the study to support the EU's code of practice on disinformation.

The findings found Twitter had the largest "ratio of discoverability" of disinformation, meaning it had the highest proportion of sensitive content that consisted of disinformation.

In contrast, YouTube had the lowest proportion of disinformation.

The study's results raised concerns about the prevalence of disinformation on social media platforms.

It’s especially during sensitive times such as elections and international conflicts.

X must adhere to the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), which regulates the behavior of large tech platforms.

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Ms Jourova said: "Mr Musk knows that he is not off the hook by leaving the code of practice, because now we have the Digital Services Act fully enforced."

The study's findings come from increasing concerns about disinformation campaigns, particularly those linked to Russia.

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The EU has accused social media companies of effectively failing to combat large-scale Russian disinformation campaigns.

Those have expanded since the invasion of Ukraine.

The threat of disinformation campaigns is particularly problematic given the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the upcoming European elections.

Ms Jourova said: "The Russian state has engaged in the war of ideas to pollute our information space with half-truth and lies to create a false image that democracy is no better than autocracy."

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