The Isk-X platform, formerly Twitter, is a social network on which ce share the most misinformation and lies relative to the number of posts. This is stated, among other things, by research done by the European Commission any conducted on respondents in several member countries of the European Union.

Namely as INTO writes the British service "BBC", the research was conducted on 6.000 unique posts on social networks Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X and YouTube, and the findings of the study show that social networks globally transmit content that is sensitive and insufficiently verified, that is, it is manipulative. The study analyzed content in three countries considered particularly at risk of disinformation – Spain, Poland and Slovakia.

Meanwhile, the EU has issued a warning to Elon Musk to comply with new laws on fake news and Russian propaganda after X was found to have the most disinformation of any major social media platform, The Guardian reported.

The report analyzed the scale of disinformation in a new report that revealed for the first time the scale of fake news on social media across the EU, with millions of fake accounts removed from TikTok and LinkedIn. Interestingly, Facebook was named as the second-worst offender when it comes to disinformation, according to the report, which also notes that if the social networks fail to comply with European data-sharing rules, Brussels could in the near future declare them illegal under the Digital Act. services (DSA), which entered into force in August.

Meanwhile Facebook and other tech giants, including Google, TikTok and Microsoft, have signed up to a code of practice drawn up by the EU to ensure they can prepare in time to operate within the confines of the new laws. Twitter has abandoned the code of practice, but under the new law it is bound to abide by the rules or face an EU-wide ban.

Sharp criticism of Musk and X's posting policies

-Mr Musk knows he is not exempt by abandoning the code of practice. There are obligations under hard law. So my message to Twitter/X is that you must ce comply. We will watch what you do - said the European Commissioner Vera Jurova, which is responsible for the implementation of the new code against disinformation.

The 200-page report is an overview of the performance of the major platforms in the first six months of 2023 year to ce prepare to comply with the new law and lift the lid on behind-the-scenes efforts by Facebook and others to curtail Russian propaganda, hate speech and other disinformation.

"The Russian state ce involved in the war of ideas to pollute our information space with half-truths and lies to create a false image that democracy is no better than autocracy," Jurova said.

The owner of LinkedIn, Microsoft, prevent the creation of 6,7 million fake accounts and remove 24.000 pieces of fake content YouTube, owned by Google, told the EU it had taken down more than "400 channels involved in coordinated influence operations linked to the Russian-sponsored Internet Research Agency."

In parallel with this TikTok has already removed almost 6 million fake accounts and 410 unverifiable ads. Google did the same, removing advertising from nearly 300 pages linked to "state-funded propaganda sites" and rejecting more than 140.000 political advertisers due to "failed identity verification processes."

target, ce it says in the report, has expanded its fact-checking to 26 partners covering 22 EU languages, now including Czech and Slovak. TikTok, which was recently fined €345m (£300m) for breaching child data protection rules, is also working to comply with the DSA. Microsoft, another participant in the code of practice, told the EU that it either deleted information or reduced suspicious information related to 800.000 search queries about the war in Ukraine.

Do Macedonians believe everything they read on the Internet?

Strengthening the system of control in educational institutions, raising the level of education but also raising media literacy would help a lot in the process of fighting against fake news and to prevent situations from which we could not "defend ourselves" such as now it is the case in some countries in the EU that part of the domestic experts advise. According to them, turning on the alarm for greater control over children on social networks would contribute to reducing this trend, which is dangerous and increasingly present in European countries as well as the region.

In that context, the communicator is also an expert in communications Bojan Kordalov behind Free Press commenting on the report from the Macedonian angle, he says that the problem with falsehoods on social networks in Macedonia is serious.

– The degree of anonymity and non-identification of "X" ex-Twitter is much higher and with that alone people are considered anonymous who can spread misinformation and do it best and easiest there. In other words, how this network works is invented in the sense that the speed of the information is a priority and the truth - points out the communicator Kordalov.

The communicator advises that in order to overcome this serious problem that plagues the domestic society as well as the societies of other countries in the region, a greater involvement of the institutions on the ground among those concerned and an individual approach to solving the problem is needed.

- My position is that it is not crucial where, who and what he does on social media. On the X network you can find people who don't spread misinformation. On the contrary, on this social network there are valid profiles that share daily important and verified information. For me as communicator is important to ce find out who is doing there and what. It is the fight against disinformation that institutions should undertake. Need to ce stop targeting media and groups but individually yes ce approaches and solves the problem of fake news, propaganda and disinformation - underlines Kordalov.

Fake news is becoming a stumbling block in EU membership

Misinformation in the Macedonian internet space is spreading rapidly and there are more and more of them. The European Commission also expressed concern about this issue in the last Report for 2022 on the progress of S. Macedonia in its European integration path. The Report states that there are "growing threats from disinformation", and points to online media and social networks as the main source of various types of disinformation.

- Online media are not regulated by a specific law, and there are different views on the need for regulation, especially in view of the growing threats of misinformation. Online media and social media platforms are the main source of disinformation, misinformation, hate speech, breach of professional standards and infringement of intellectual property rights, says EC Report 2022 – says EC document.

The EU document also adds that in the context of the disinformation coming in connection with the war in Ukraine, the Macedonian Government in March 2022 banned the rebroadcasting of Russian TV channels by amending the Law on Restrictive Measures. Otherwise, previous reports based on police sources indicate that the police have acted on dozens of cases so far, but they add that it is still very difficult because there are no specific laws. Since then, they have informed several times until now that there is no real crime, and that they can act on them only when they are related to another crime. There is no criminal offense for fake news in the Criminal Code. The Ministry of the Interior acts against fake news in coordination with the Public Prosecutor's Office. From there, the question arises whether we need a new law where fake news will be a crime.