Source: European Parliament
German edition of Russia’s leading propaganda outlet, Russia Today (RT), had re-established its presence on X as a part of a broader pro-Kremlin strategy to interfere with Europe’s democratic processes. As of now, the RT Germany account on X has been suspended[1].
Since 1st March 2022, the EU has imposed restrictive measures on RT Germany for its role in systematically spreading disinformation justifying and in support of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Its broadcasting license has been suspended and it is prohibited for operators in the EU to broadcast, enable or facilitate the broadcasting of any content by RT Germany by any means[2].
It is the responsibility of national competent authorities to implement these measures and ensure that any breach is investigated. The Commission closely monitors compliance.
On 18 December 2023, the Commission opened formal proceedings[3] to assess whether X may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA)[4] including in relation to the dissemination of illegal content in the EU and the effectiveness of measures taken to combat information manipulation on the platform.
On 12 July 2024, the platform was informed of the Commission’s preliminary view that it is in breach of the DSA[5]. On 17 January 2025, the Commission addressed further technical investigatory measures to X[6], including a request for access to certain of X’s commercial Application Programming Interfaces, technical interfaces to its content that allow direct fact-finding on content moderation and virality of accounts.
These steps will allow the Commission services to take all relevant facts into account in the complex assessment under the DSA of systemic risks and their mitigation by X.
- [1] https://x.com/RTDE_OFFIZIELL
- [2] Article 2f(2) of Council Regulation (EU) 2022/350 of 1 March 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine.
- [3] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_679
- [4] Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act) (Text with EEA relevance).
- [5] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_3761
- [6] https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-addresses-additional-investigatory-measures-x-ongoing-proceedings-under-digital-services