Washington — The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders on Thursday announced that it is suing the social media company X, accusing it of spreading disinformation.
After Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, discovered that it was the target of a disinformation campaign this past summer, the Paris-based group filed 10 reports of policy violations with X, formerly known as Twitter.
Since none of the posts in question have been removed, RSF opted to sue the company in French courts “for its complicity in disseminating false information, misrepresentation and identity theft,” the group said in a statement.
“Is X’s deliberate unwillingness to fight disinformation punishable by law? Does it make the company complicit in the pollution of public debate?” the statement said. “With the new case brought forth by RSF, the French courts now have the opportunity to address these pressing questions, establish X’s legal obligations and hold it to account.”
The case concerns a late August video that RSF said it found, falsely labeled as from the BBC, claiming RSF produced a report on Nazi beliefs in Ukraine’s military.
The video used RSF’s logo and photos of the group’s advocacy director, and it reached nearly half a million views by mid-September, mainly on X and Telegram, RSF said. The press freedom group later determined that the Russian government was behind the fake video.
RSF filed several reports with X about the fake video, but the social media platform did not remove any of the posts in question, RSF said.
“X’s refusal to remove content that it knows is false and deceitful — as it was duly informed by RSF — makes it complicit in the spread of the disinformation circulating on its platform,” RSF’s advocacy director Antoine Bernard said in a statement.
“X provides those who spread falsehoods and manipulate public opinion with a powerful arsenal of tools and unparalleled visibility, while granting the perpetrators total impunity,” Bernard added.
Emmanuel Daoud, an attorney representing RSF, said in a statement that the lawsuit seeks to remind X and its executives that they can be held criminally responsible “if they knowingly provide a platform and tools for disseminating false information, identity theft, misrepresentation, and defamation — offenses punishable under the French Penal Code.”
RSF’s lawsuit comes after several French news outlets sued X earlier this week for allegedly running their content without payment.
That lawsuit was filed by top French outlets including Le Monde, Le Figaro, Les Echos, and several others. They’re accusing X of violating so-called neighboring rights, which under French law are due when social media platforms republish news content.
X did not immediately reply to VOA’s request for comment.
The social media platform is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who campaigned for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, Trump announced that Musk would co-chair, with fellow billionaire and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a new Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration.
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