European Commission Launches Inquiry into Meta's Efforts Against Russian Disinformation
The European Union is set to commence formal proceedings against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, due to worries that the tech giant is not doing enough to counter Russian disinformation ahead of the EU elections in June.
The European Commission is apprehensive about the effectiveness of Meta's content moderation practices, fearing that they may not be robust enough to counter the spread of false information and efforts to suppress voting. The EU emphasizes the need for active monitoring of election content and a strong mechanism for flagging illegal content.
Recent reports suggest that the commission is particularly concerned by Meta's decision to discontinue CrowdTangle, a tool providing real-time insights to researchers and journalists, enabling them to track disinformation. Losing this resource could hinder efforts to fight disinformation across the EU.
Under the EU's new regulations, tech companies must self-regulate and comply with the law, including protecting against systemic risks related to election interference. Meta, like other major social media platforms, is required to adhere to these regulations and safeguard the integrity of the elections.
The investigation into Meta follows the commission's recent stress tests on major social media platforms to assess their preparedness against Russian disinformation. These tests involved hypothetical scenarios based on past instances of election interference and cyber-enabled manipulation.
The tests aimed to evaluate the resilience of social media against different tactics and techniques, such as deepfakes and online harassment, used to suppress legitimate opinions.
As the European parliamentary elections are set for June 6-9, there are growing concerns about the potential impact of disinformation on the elections. The European Parliament recently issued voter guidelines, highlighting incidents such as false rumors about specific ink colors being accepted on ballot papers and threats at polling stations.
Additionally, EU DisinfoLab has identified 17,000 incidents of disinformation, many attempting to discredit Ukraine's defense in the war against Russia, as well as to promote Vladimir Putin's pseudo-historical justifications for the invasion.
