Europeans and disinformation: Facebook and Instagram in the EU’s sights

Leaders have recently raised concerns on social media about possible manipulation of public opinion by Russia ahead of the June European elections. In the fight against disinformation, the European Commission just launched an investigation into Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday. Both networks are suspected of not complying with all of their obligations.

“The Commission has created tools to protect European citizens from disinformation and manipulation by third countries,” stressed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “If we suspect a violation of the rules, we take action. This is always true, but especially during elections,” she added.

This is the fifth official investigation launched by the European Commission under the new Digital Services Regulation (DSA), which came into force last year to combat illegal content and products online.

Tik Tok, AliExpress, X…

Brussels has already launched two investigations targeting TikTok, one of which last week forced a subsidiary of China’s ByteDance to suspend a controversial feature of its new TikTok Lite app that rewards users for screen time. This feature is suspected of creating a risk of addiction among adolescents.

Proceedings were also launched in early March against Chinese online retail giant AliExpress, a subsidiary of Alibaba, which is suspected of not doing enough to crack down on the sale of dangerous goods such as counterfeit medicines.

The first official investigation also focused on the risks posed by disinformation. The case was filed on December 18 against social network X (formerly Twitter) for alleged failures in content moderation and transparency.

The Digital Services Regulation has been applicable since the end of August to the most powerful online platforms such as X, TikTok, as well as the main services of Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Apple, Google, Microsoft or Amazon. A total of 23 very large Internet players, including three pornography sites (Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos), have come under direct surveillance by the European Commission, which has hired more than a hundred experts in Brussels to take on its new role as digital policeman.

Violators face fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover or even a ban from operating in Europe in cases of serious and repeated violations.