The European Union has opened formal infringement proceedings against social media giant X.

In a post on the platform, European commissioner for internal market Thierry Breton said that the EU suspects the company has breached obligations to counter both illegal content and disinformation.

He added that it also believes X, formerly Twitter, breached transparency obligations and used “deceptive design” of user interface.

National Technology News has approached X for comment.

The move comes after the EU warned that the platform was being used to spread disinformation following terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel.

In October, the EU commissioner wrote to X-owner Elon Musk reminding him that the Digital Services Act “sets very precise obligations regarding content moderation".

In the letter, Breton called on Musk to urgently ensure that its systems were effective, and asked him to report on the crisis measures taken by his team.

A month later, Apple, Disney, and IBM pulled ads from X days after Musk agreed with an antisemitic post on the platform.

The decision for Apple and IBM to pull adverts on the site came after Media Matters for America alleged that the social media platform was placing their ads next to content praising Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

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