European Commission Launches Disinformation Probe Against Meta

(CTN News) – The European Commission has initiated a disinformation investigation into social media company Meta.

On Tuesday, the EU initiated an investigation against the operators of Facebook and Instagram, alleging that the US giant had violated the bloc’s online content laws. Brussels has increased its efforts to combat disinformation before the June EU elections.

The commission stated that Meta’s efforts to moderate content are “insufficient” and fail to address deceptive advertising and disinformation.

The Digital Services Act (DSA), enacted last year, requires “Big Tech” to do more to combat illegal and harmful information on social media platforms.

“We suspect Meta’s moderation is insufficient, that it lacks transparency of advertisements and content moderation procedures,” EU digital commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

She continued, “So today, we have opened proceedings against Meta to assess their compliance with the Digital Services Act.”

The legislative action comes as fears about Russia, China, and Iran as possible sources of disinformation grow ahead of the EU election.

Last month, an alleged Russian-sponsored network attempting to influence the June 6-9 vote was discovered. Politicians from across the bloc were bribed to repeat Moscow’s storylines, particularly those concerning its invasion of Ukraine.

Anti-establishment groups are also accused of spreading misinformation as they strive to boost their representation in the upcoming five-year EU parliament.

Following the EU’s announcement, Meta defended its risk-mitigating measures.

“We have a well-defined approach for detecting and mitigating risks on our platforms. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the European Commission and providing them with additional information on this work,” representative said.

However, the EU expressed alarm about Meta’s decision to deprecate its misinformation-tracking tool CrowdTangle without providing an acceptable successor.

Meta has announced that it will replace CrowdTangle with a new, still-in-development Content Library technology.

Facebook and Instagram are among 23 “very large” internet platforms that must comply with the DSA, face fines of up to 6% of their global revenue, or even a ban in severe circumstances.

Other platforms include Amazon, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.

Meta has five working days to notify the EU of any corrective efforts to address its concerns.