The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Musk’s new Twitter policies helped spread Russian propaganda, E.U. says

X’s failure to slow the spread of disinformation on the Internet would have violated E.U. social media law, had it been in effect

September 1, 2023 at 11:19 a.m. EDT
Elon Musk (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
4 min

Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) has played a major role in allowing Russian propaganda about Ukraine to reach more people than before the war began, according to a study released this week by the European Commission, the governing body of the European Union.

The research found that, despite voluntary commitments to take action against Russian propaganda by the largest social media companies, including Meta, Russian disinformation against Ukraine, thrived. Allowing the disinformation and hate speech to spread without limits would have violated the Digital Services Act, the E.U.’s social media law, had it been in force last year, the year-long commission study concluded.