financetom
Business
financetom
/
Business
/
Facebook, Instagram in EU crosshairs for election disinformation
News World Market Environment Technology Personal Finance Politics Retail Business Economy Cryptocurrency Forex Stocks Market Commodities
Facebook, Instagram in EU crosshairs for election disinformation
Apr 30, 2024 4:58 AM

BRUSSELS, April 30 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms' ( META )

Facebook and Instagram have failed to tackle disinformation and

deceptive advertising in the run-up to European Parliament

elections, the European Commission said on Tuesday as it opened

an investigation into suspected breaches of EU online content

rules.

The move by EU tech regulators came amid concerns about

Russia, China and Iran as potential sources of disinformation,

but also inside the EU, with some political parties and

organisations seeking to attract voters with lies in the June

6-9 vote to select the next five-year parliament.

The Digital Services Act which kicked in last year requires

Big Tech to do more to counter illegal and harmful content on

their platforms or risk fines of as much 6% of their global

annual turnover.

The EU investigation will focus in particular on a

Russia-based influence operation network dubbed Doppelganger

which clones authentic media and was exposed by Meta in 2022,

people familiar with the matter said. Meta says it has blocked

tens of thousands of links connected to it.

"We suspect that Meta's moderation is insufficient, that it

lacks transparency of advertisements and content moderation

procedures," EU digital chief Margrethe Vestager said in a

statement.

"So today, we have opened proceedings against Meta to assess

their compliance with the Digital Services Act," she said.

Meta, which has more than 250 million monthly active users

in the European Union, defended its risk mitigating process.

"We have a well established process for identifying and

mitigating risks on our platforms. We look forward to continuing

our cooperation with the European Commission and providing them

with further details of this work," a spokesperson said.

The Commission said it suspects that Meta does not comply

with DSA obligations related to addressing the dissemination of

deceptive advertisements, disinformation campaigns and

coordinated inauthentic behaviour in the EU.

It also singled out the non-availability of an effective

third-party realtime civic discourse and election-monitoring

tool ahead of the elections to the European Parliament.

The Commission also cited concerns about Meta's phasing out

of its disinformation tracking CrowdTangle without an adequate

replacement.

Meta has five working days to inform the EU about remedial

actions taken to address the concerns.

Comments
Welcome to financetom comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Related Articles >
Judge faults Apple for withholding documents in Epic Games case
Judge faults Apple for withholding documents in Epic Games case
Dec 3, 2024
Dec 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday said Apple ( AAPL ) misused attorney-client confidentiality protections to avoid turning over some corporate files related to its App Store in a lawsuit brought by Fortnite maker Epic Games. U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson in San Francisco rejected Apple's ( AAPL ) effort to withhold the documents from Epic. The...
Progressive Insider Sold Shares Worth $2,680,900, According to a Recent SEC Filing
Progressive Insider Sold Shares Worth $2,680,900, According to a Recent SEC Filing
Dec 3, 2024
11:32 AM EST, 12/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- John P Sauerland, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, on November 29, 2024, sold 10,000 shares in Progressive (PGR) for $2,680,900. Following the Form 4 filing with the SEC, Sauerland has control over a total of 306,280 shares of the company, with 292,958 shares held directly and 13,322 controlled indirectly. SEC Filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/80661/000112760224028367/xslF345X05/form4.xml...
Global-e Online Sees 43% Rise in Black Friday-Cyber Monday Sales
Global-e Online Sees 43% Rise in Black Friday-Cyber Monday Sales
Dec 3, 2024
11:32 AM EST, 12/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Global-e Online ( GLBE ) said Tuesday that sales over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend increased by 43% from a year earlier. The company said sales momentum for global e-commerce shopping started building up as early as the second week of November. Black Friday sales accounted for 33% of the total over the...
Smith-Midland Gets $8 Million in Contracts to Lease J-J Hooks Barriers in Virginia
Smith-Midland Gets $8 Million in Contracts to Lease J-J Hooks Barriers in Virginia
Dec 3, 2024
11:37 AM EST, 12/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Smith-Midland ( SMID ) got $8 million in contracts to lease its J-J Hooks precast concrete barriers to the Virginia Department of Transportation. The state projects include three separate installations in Fairfax and New Kent counties, the company said Tuesday in a statement. Price: 49.39, Change: -0.64, Percent Change: -1.28 ...
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.financetom.com All Rights Reserved