In a move aimed at safeguarding European citizens from targeted disinformation and manipulation, the European Commission has initiated formal proceedings to assess whether Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has violated the Digital Services Act (DSA). Commission President Ursula von der Leyen underscored the importance of upholding digital regulations, particularly during democratic elections, stating, “Big digital platforms must live up to their obligations to put enough resources into this and today’s decision shows that we are serious about compliance.” She thanked Prime Minister Fiala of the Czech Republic for raising the issue at the European level and acknowledged Belgium’s activation of the emergency mechanism for information exchange between Member States.
The suspected infringements revolve around Meta’s policies and practices concerning deceptive advertising, political content, and the availability of real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring tools. The Commission questions Meta’s compliance with DSA obligations related to addressing deceptive advertisements, disinformation campaigns, and coordinated inauthentic behavior, which pose risks to civic discourse, electoral processes, and fundamental rights. Additionally, concerns arise over Meta’s ‘political content approach,’ which demotes political content in Instagram and Facebook feeds, potentially hindering transparency and user redress obligations. The investigation will delve into the compatibility of this policy with DSA requirements and its impact on mitigating risks to civic discourse and electoral processes.
The absence of an effective third-party real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring tool ahead of the upcoming European Parliament elections and other Member State elections also draws scrutiny. Meta’s decision to deprecate “CrowdTangle,” a public insights tool used for real-time election monitoring, without a suitable replacement, is seen as potentially detrimental to civic discourse and electoral processes. The Commission suspects deficiencies in Meta’s mechanism for flagging illegal content, notably the ‘Notice-and-Action’ system, and the absence of an effective internal complaint-handling system. If proven, these failures could constitute infringements of various articles of the DSA.
Formal proceedings have been initiated based on a preliminary analysis of Meta’s risk assessment report, responses to formal Requests for Information, publicly available reports, and the Commission’s analysis. The investigation will focus on deceptive advertisements, political content visibility, the availability of monitoring tools, and the mechanism for flagging illegal content. The opening of proceedings empowers the Commission to gather further evidence, enforce interim measures, and accept commitments from Meta to address the issues raised. Meta is expected to cooperate fully and submit the necessary information without delay.
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