Reporters Without Borders (RSF) he said this week in France filed criminal charges against X (Twitter) over the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign, which used the nonprofit as a front to spread fake news. The organization said legal remedies are its “last resort” in the fight against fake stories designed to fuel anti-Russian and anti-Ukraine sentiment stuck on the platform. “X’s refusal to remove content he knows to be false and misleading — as he was duly informed by RSF — makes him complicit in the disinformation spread on his platform,” RSF’s director of advocacy, Antoine Bernard, said in a statement.
“These lawsuits serve to remind X, a powerful social media company, and its executives that they can be criminally prosecuted if they knowingly provide platforms and tools for the dissemination of false information, identity theft, misrepresentation and defamation. French Penal Code”, wrote RSF lawyer Emmanuel Daoud.
RSF published a study In September, Elon Musk explained how a fake video was created and distributed by Russia on a social platform owned by Elon Musk. The fake clip was made to look like a BBC-produced clip, including the news organization’s logo. It was a mistake for the RSF to conduct an investigation that revealed a large number of Ukrainian soldiers with Nazi sympathies.
False claims that Ukraine was pro-Nazi were a common propaganda tactic It is used by Russia Since the invasion of 2022. The story is designed to build support for the Kremlin-initiated war is estimated killed a million or more Ukrainians.
An RSF investigation found that the seeds of the disinformation were planted by an account called “Patricia” claiming to be a translator in France. However, the report found that the account’s profile picture was a photo of blonde women that had been edited to “create an avatar” on a Russian website.
RSF says even the account name was automatically created by X. In addition, the organization says Grok. X’s AI is a chatbot with access to live data on the platform, claimed that the account “has very strong opinions, often supporting Russia and Vladimir Putin, but also strongly criticizing Ukraine and its supporters in Europe.”
The investigation found that the video was then circulated through a chain that included a pro-Kremlin Irish entrepreneur living in Russia, a Kremlin propagandist with a large Telegram following, and even Russian officials. This was also shared by “highly influential bloggers” known for their unwavering support for Vladimir Putin.
“In this story, the Russian authorities behaved a little like dirty data washing,” said the representative of RSF. video about the investigation (translated from French) in September. “They took false information and washed it through official channels. And then, this information, which is not factual information, is re-introduced into the public debate to make it appear credible.
The fake Russian video was widely shared on X and Telegram. Reporters Without Borders reports that by September 13, viewers of the clip had reached half a million combined views. The nonprofit quoted a quote (of unknown origin but often attributed to Mark Twain) to vent its frustration at the blow to its credibility: “A lie can travel. halfway around the world while the truth is still wearing its shoes.”
RSF says it has filed 10 reports with X for illegal content through the social channel’s requested reporting system. EU Digital Services Act (DSA). “After a series of denials from X and requests for additional information — provided by RSF — none of the reports resulted in the removal of defamatory content targeting our organization and its director of advocacy,” RSF wrote.
In July, the US Department of Justice he said he exposed and dismantled a Russian propaganda network using nearly 1,000 accounts to push pro-Kremlin posts on X. The DOJ claimed the accounts were American and used artificial intelligence. In October The Wall Street Journal informed Elon Musk had several personal meetings with Vladimir Putin from 2022 to this year and described these relations as “a closely guarded secret in the government”.
“X’s refusal to remove content he knows to be false and misleading — as he was duly informed by RSF — makes him complicit in the disinformation spread on his platform,” RSF director Bernard said in a statement. “X gives those who spread lies and manipulate public opinion a powerful arsenal of tools and unparalleled visibility, while providing complete impunity for the perpetrators. It’s time for X to be held accountable. “Criminal charges are a last resort against the disinformation and war propaganda that RSF is a victim of and that is spreading in this ‘Muskian’ network.”
