March 20 (Reuters) - Under EU guidelines likely to be

adopted next week, Elon Musk's X, TikTok, Facebook and other

major online platforms are expected to act to mitigate risks to

elections or face fines, a European Commission official said on

Wednesday.

The EU executive had in February announced the draft

guidelines, part of the Digital Services Act (DSA) which

requires Big Tech to do more to tackle illegal and harmful

content on their platforms.

Concerns over election interference and misleading

AI-generated content have escalated in the run-up to the

European Parliament elections in June.

"The Commission will use these guidelines as a kind of check

list. They are not legally binding on the platforms. The

companies are free to choose how to mitigate risks," a

Commission official said.

"If the platforms do not address the risks, they can be

fined under the DSA."

As big technology companies and search engines play a

big role in "shaping public opinion and voter behaviour, it is

key that they take effective measures to mitigate risks related

to electoral processes," a Commission spokesperson said.

The Commission's guidelines will "further specify risk

mitigations measures and best practices, notably around

generative AI content," the spokesperson said.

Companies will face fines as much as 6% of their annual

global turnover for breaching the Digital Services Act.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms ( META ), YouTube parent

Google and TikTok have in recent weeks announced various

measures, including setting up teams to counter disinformation,

AI abuse and covert influence relating to the European

Parliament elections.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil

D'Silva and Bernadette Baum)