The European Commission is closely monitoring the measures taken by tech conglomerate Meta Platforms to tackle disinformation online as the election approaches.
The EU is set to hold its parliamentary elections from June 6 to 9, 2024. A European Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday that Meta has deployed “new functionalities” to control electoral disinformation. Meta’s containment measures include “27 real-time visual dashboards” for each EU member state, according to the spokesperson as quoted by Reuters.
The dashboards will allow third-party real-time civic discourse and election monitoring.
The development arrives after the European Commission launched a probe last month into Meta’s potential violation of EU’s online content regulations. The investigation suggested that Meta had failed to counter disinformation and deceptive advertising across its popular social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
The Commission will now monitor Meta’s measures aimed at tackling election disinformation. The formal proceedings against the company with regards to the breach of online content rules will continue, however.
The forthcoming European Parliament (EP) elections piled up concerns after Meta’s alleged moderation failures alerted the EU authorities. The probe was initiated under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force last year. The legislation requires Big Tech companies to take more stringent measures to counter the spread of potentially harmful and illegal online content.
“We have a well established process for identifying and mitigating risks on our platforms,” Meta had said in response to the investigation. “We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the European Commission and providing them with further details of this work.”
Meta has over 250 million monthly active users in the EU. The year 2024 is witnessing more than 60 countries going to polls, which will be a crucial test for leading tech companies as to how effectively they manage electoral disinformation, especially material generated with AI tools.
