The European Commission has targeted Meta with a formal investigation to assess whether the company is doing enough to moderate political content, illegal content and disinformation on Facebook and Instagram. The investigation comes amid a surge in pro-Russian online propaganda ahead of EU elections in early June.
In a press release on Tuesday, the European Commission alleges that Meta may have breached its obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a set of EU regulations aimed at protecting users by promoting safer online environments. The potential violations under investigation include Meta’s approach to combating disinformation campaigns and “coordinated inauthentic behavior” in the EU, as well as the lack of effective third-party tools to monitor elections and civic discourse in real time – with particular concern that Meta could reject CrowdTangle without one adequate replacement.
The EU has called on its leaders to take urgent action against Russian interference ahead of June elections
The concerns over election surveillance follow a call for EU politicians to “urgently and forcefully” counter Russia’s attempts to interfere in democratic processes across the bloc. According to French European Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, almost all EU countries are the target of Russian propaganda in the run-up to the European elections starting on June 6th.
Parallel to the announcement of the investigation, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said:
This Commission has created means to protect European citizens from targeted disinformation and manipulation by third countries. If we suspect a violation of the rules, we take action. This applies at all times, but especially in times of democratic elections. Major digital platforms must fulfill their obligation to provide sufficient resources to do so, and today’s decision shows that we are serious about compliance. Protecting our democracies is a common fight between our member states.
The investigation will also examine how Meta moderates misleading advertising, policies that reduce the visibility of political content on Instagram and Facebook, and whether mechanisms that allow users to flag illegal content are sufficient.
“If we cannot be sure that we can trust content we see online, there is a risk that we will end up believing nothing at all,” said EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager. “Deceptive advertising poses a risk to our online debate and ultimately to our rights as consumers and citizens.”
The European Commission has not set a deadline for the investigation. If Meta is found to be in violation of the DSA and fails to correct the problems, it could face fines of up to 6 percent of its annual revenue.