EU halts advertising on X over 'hate speech'

The EU's executive arm said on Friday it had told its services to stop advertising on Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly Twitter, after a surge in disinformation and hate speech.

"We have seen an alarming increase in disinformation and hate speech on several social media platforms in recent weeks and X is certainly quite effected," European Commission spokesman Johannes Bahrke said.

"We have therefore advised services to refrain from advertising, at this stage, on the concerned social media platforms, where we have concerns that our content appears in an inappropriate context."

Bahrke said that only X was affected so far and that the move was targeted at advertising and did not mean European Union accounts were abandoning the platform.

The order from the EU commission comes after it separately launched an investigation last month into X to determine if it has allowed the spread of disinformation around the Israel-Gaza conflict.

The probe was one of a raft launched by Brussels against internet giants under Europe's new Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires them to crack down on content deemed illegal.

The commission's move also follows questions over its alleged use of targeted advertising on X to promote proposed legislation aimed at obliging messaging platforms and services to detect images of child abuse.

EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson admitted last month that the advertising campaign may have breached the bloc's own regulations.