Elon Musk's X snubs invite to Dutch elections roundtable

Elon Musk’s X was the only major social media platform not to attend a Dutch election roundtable organised by the country’s online governance regulator in the run-up to parliamentary elections scheduled for 29 October.  The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) – which is tasked with enforcing the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU’s online governance rulebook, in the Netherlands – organised an election roundtable on 15 September to discuss how major platforms plan to combat illegal content and disinformation in the run-up to the elections. As well as X, the ACM’s list of invitees included other major social media platforms – so-called Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the DSA – such as Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, and Snapchat. X did not immediately respond to Euractiv’s request for comment about its absence. Election security is a stated priority for the EU’s own enforcement of the DSA. The Commission has also been investigating X since December 2023, including probing its approach to illegal content risks and online disinformation. But has yet to conclude these probes. The EU’s existing DSA probes of X concern other potential violations, including ads transparency and data access for researchers. In January, it also announced an expansion of the scrutiny after Musk used X to amplify the far right ahead of elections in Germany. While X was not the only no-show at the Dutch roundtable – social media platform Reddit and messaging app Telegram were also invited but did not attend – it was the only VLOP not to participate. National authorities such as the Dutch data protection authority, the European Commission, researchers and civil society organisations also participated in the roundtable. Discussion topics included synthetic AI-generated content, platforms’ recommender systems, and access to data by researchers, according to the ACM’s report on the roundtable. (nl) The Netherlands’ competition regulator will meet 12 major online platforms — including TikTok, Facebook and… 2 minutes

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