The European Commission will freeze ads in X

He European Comission has decided to freeze ads on Elon MuskThe social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Variety Has confirmed.

“We have seen an alarming rise in disinformation and hate speech on various social media platforms in recent weeks, and X is certainly quite effective at that,” European Commission spokesman Johannes Bahrke said at a briefing. press on Friday. “We have therefore advised services to refrain from advertising at this stage on the social media platforms concerned, where we are concerned that such content appears in an inappropriate context and therefore affects the effectiveness of our communication. and our messages”.

Bahrke added: “This has nothing to do with our presence in X per se. It’s really about ads, campaigns and ad spend. And for these campaigns, we continually analyze and evaluate the media environment in light of our communication objectives.”

In a statement to VarietyA spokesperson for of the European Investment Bank. “They told us they will continue to actively advertise on X.”

The news was first reported in Politico’s Brussels playbook newsletter, which cited an internal note from the European Commission that mentioned “widespread concerns related to the spread of disinformation.”

Last month, the European Union launched an investigation into X’s handling of false information related to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 under the Digital Services Law, a policy aimed at fostering online environments safer.

Earlier this week, the progressive watchdog group Media issues found that five major brands, including IBM, had their ads placed next to posts “promoting Hitler and his Nazi Party” on X.

IBM reacted by withdrawing its X ads and issued a statement Variety saying it has “zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this completely unacceptable situation.” The other brands include Apple, NBCUniversal’s Bravo, Oracle and Comcast’s Xfinity.

Musk also found himself at the center of a controversy on Wednesday after endorsing an anti-Semitic post that claimed that “Jewish communities have been pushing exactly the kind of dialectical hate against white people that they say they want people to stop using against they”. Musk responded to the post saying, “You’ve told the real truth.”