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Elon Musk’s disavowal of existing safety standards from X (formerly Twitter) has inadvertently amplified the reach of Russian propaganda, a study released by the European Commission found.
“Preliminary analysis suggests that the reach and influence of Kremlin-backed accounts has grown further in the first half of 2023, driven in particular by the dismantling of Twitter’s safety standards,” said non-profit group Reset, which conducted the study in behalf of the European Union.
To conduct the study, Reset looked at more than 2,200 accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Youtube, and Telegram that posted pro-Russian content over two years. This analysis included analysing close to 7 million pieces of content posted between December 2021 and December 2022 across 11 official EU languages.
Reset found that the reach of pro-Russian accounts “increased between January and May of 2023, with average engagement rising by 22 percent across online platforms.”
“However, this increased reach was largely driven by Twitter, where engagement grew by 36 percent after CEO Elon Musk decided to lift mitigation measures on Kremlin-backed accounts, arguing that ‘all news is to some degree propaganda,’” the researchers said.
Unlike the US, the European Union has implemented more stringent policies against disinformation, as exemplified by the Digital Services Act that took effect last month.
The act in part, requires tech companies to actively address risks related to child safety, illegal content, and threats to the electoral process.
According to the EU, Elon Musk’s X would have been found liable for amplifying Russian propaganda, had the DSA been enforced earlier.
That being said, even the more compliant platforms have been found deficient in their efforts.
“Pro-Kremlin accounts continue to reach the largest audiences on Meta’s platforms. However, their audiences only grew marginally on Facebook and Instagram compared to other platforms. The subscriber numbers of pro-Kremlin channels more than tripled on Telegram since the start of the war, more than doubled on TikTok and rose by almost 90 percent on YouTube,” the study found.
Musk, a self-professed free speech absolutist, reversed many of X’s security standards including labelling and de-amplifying state-affiliated accounts, particularly those from China and Russia.
Ironically, this came about after Musk extended the label “government-funded media” tag on public broadcasters such as Australia’s ABC News and SBS, UK’s BBC, and US-based public broadcasters NPR and PBS.
The act caused furor among journalists, with NPR leaving the platform immediately. The immediate backlash prompted Musk to eliminate the label on all public media organisations, including Russia’s RT. as of posting, all news agencies regardless of affiliation now bear the tag “Media & News Company.”
Despite saying that they had no plans to follow suit, ABC News followed a few months later by shutting down the majority of its accounts.
