The European Commission has initiated formal investigation proceedings against Meta regarding its management of political content, including a suspected Russian influence campaign, amid
impending elections in the EU and beyond. Officials aim to assess whether Meta's moderation of disinformation on Facebook and Instagram complies with EU law.
Key concerns include Meta's supervision of its advertising tools and whether they have been exploited by malicious actors. Additionally, the investigation will scrutinize Meta's transparency regarding the moderation of political content and accounts.
Meta responded, stating they have established processes to identify and mitigate risks on their platforms and look forward to cooperating with the European Commission.
As one of several tech giants classified as "very large online platforms" (VLOPs) under the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA), Meta faces potential fines of up to 6% of their annual turnover if they fail to meet stringent content moderation requirements.
The investigation focuses on Meta's alleged inadequacies in moderating disinformation and political advertisements, with concerns raised about the impact on the upcoming European Parliament elections in June.
The EU Commission's inquiry into Meta revolves around four primary concerns:
-Ineffective oversight and moderation of advertisements
-Lack of transparency regarding the demotion of political content and accounts
-Limited access for journalists and civil society researchers to real-time data or monitoring tools during elections
-Absence of clear and accessible mechanisms for users to report illegal content
According to the Commission, Meta's current approach to moderating advertisements does not align with DSA obligations. Non-profit research organization AI Forensics revealed a Russian influence campaign running ads across Meta's platforms, reaching millions of users between August 2023 and March 2024.
Meta claims to have taken action against the campaign since its exposure in 2022, resulting in decreased user engagement. However, concerns persist regarding Meta's transparency and provision of tools for monitoring content during elections.
The Commission has requested Meta to provide information about tools for journalists and researchers to monitor content during upcoming elections and expressed apprehension about Meta's decision to discontinue CrowdTangle, a tool providing insights into Facebook and Instagram content engagement.
This investigation follows the Commission's previous probe into disinformation on X (formerly Twitter) in March, reflecting ongoing efforts to safeguard democratic processes from manipulation and misinformation.