EU Commissioner asks Zuckerberg, Musk to stamp out disinformation amid Israeli war
Urupong
Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, wrote letters to Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg and X founder Elon Musk to stamp out illegal content and disinformation on their respective platforms amid the war between Israel and Hamas.
In a letter to Zuckerberg, obtained by Reuters, Bretton asked him to be "very vigilant to ensure strict compliance" with the Digital Services Act and remove the content in a "timely, diligent and objective" manner, giving him 24 hours to respond.
The Digital Services Act, or DSA, requires online platforms to remove illegal content from their platforms.
Breton also wrote a letter, dated October 10, to Musk on the matter as well. 
"Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that your platform is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU," Bretton wrote.
"I urge you to ensure a prompt, accurate and complete response to this request within the next 24 hours," Bretton added. 
Musk purchased X, formally known as Twitter, last year, for $44B.
Neither Meta nor X immediately responded to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
Meta's Instagram and Facebook were recently listed among the 22 products and services that were designated by the European Commission as "gatekeepers" under the continent's Digital Markets Act.
Thresholds to be listed as a gatekeeper include 45M or more active local users, more than â¬7.5B in annual revenue or a market cap that surpasses â¬75B.
If companies do not comply with the rules laid down by the DMA, they can be fined up to 10% of global annual turnover or 20% for repeated violations, the EC explained.
Additional steps can be taken by the EC, including requiring a gatekeeper to sell a business or parts of it or banning the respective gatekeeper from acquiring additional services related to the non-compliance.
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