European leaders have recently expressed concern about possible manipulation of public opinion by Russia a few weeks before the European election scheduled for June 6-9. Brussels had already opened a formal investigation in December against the social network X (formerly Twitter) for alleged failures in content moderation.
At the end of April, two other procedures of this type were initiated against Facebook and Instagram, also suspected of not respecting their obligations in the fight against disinformation. On Wednesday, the Commission explained in a press release that it had asked X for explanations on the reduction in its content moderation resources, within the framework of the Digital Services Regulation (DSA).
23 major internet players in the viewfinder
She is asking the American group for “detailed information and internal documents”. According to the EU executive, a recent report from the platform “revealed that European Union from 11 to 7 languages.
The Commission also wishes to obtain details “on risk mitigation measures linked to the impact of generative artificial intelligence tools on electoral processes”. The regulation on digital services has applied since the end of August to the most powerful online platforms such as X, TikTok, as well as the main services of Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Apple, Google, Microsoft or Amazon.
In total, 23 very large internet players, including three pornographic sites (Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos), were placed under the direct surveillance of the European Commission, which recruited more than a hundred experts in Brussels to assume its new role as digital policeman. Violators face fines of up to 6% of their annual worldwide turnover, or even a ban on practicing in Europe in the event of serious and repeated violations.