Linda Yaccarino: CEO of X speaking with CNBC’s Sara Eisen on Aug. 10th, 2023.
CNBC
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday laid out how the social media platform is tackling potential illegal content related to the Israel-Hamas conflict after one of the European Union’s top regulators said it had seen signs that the service was being used to spread disinformation.
The militant Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on Israel over the weekend. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Japan, Australia, Israel, the European Union and many other countries.
In a letter posted on X, Yaccarino said that after the Hamas attack on Israel, the social media firm “assembled a leadership group to assess the situation.”
X has “identified and removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts” since the start of the war, Yaccarino said.
The CEO also detailed the company’s policies around violent speech, synthetic or manipulated media and perpetrators of violent attacks.
“X is committed to serving the public conversation, especially in critical moments like this and understands the importance of addressing any illegal content that may be disseminated through the platform,” Yaccarino said.
“There is no place on X for terrorist organizations or violent extremist groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real time, including proactive efforts.”
EU reminds X of potential fines
Yaccarino’s letter comes after Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for internal market, on Wednesday gave X 24 hours to respond to a notice in which he said the EU has “indications” that X is “being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU” after the “terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel.”
This year, the EU introduced the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping piece of regulation that forces online platforms to police illegal content more aggressively or risk huge fines.
Breton, in his letter to X owner Elon Musk, called out a change in the social media firm’s public interest policy, which defines which posts on the service can be kept up even if they go against the company’s own content rules. Breton said that the changes “left many European users uncertain.”
The EU commissioner also said that there are reports of “fake and manipulated images and facts circulating” on X.
Breton also said that he expects X to be in contact with relevant law enforcement authorities and Europol and respond “promptly” to their…
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