The European Commission announced on Tuesday it had launched a formal investigation into Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms for alleged violations of new European Union (EU) digital services rules, suspected disinformation and misleading advertising ahead of the election.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the community leader said “a formal process began today to assess whether Meta, the ‘owner’ of Facebook and Instagram, may have violated the Digital Services Act.”
Brussels clarifies that “the alleged violations cover Meta’s policies and practices regarding misleading advertising and political content on its services” and also refers to “disinformation campaigns and misleading behavior coordinated within the EU” during the election campaign.
The institution also suspects that Meta violated the new rules due to the “lack of an effective tool for monitoring civil discourse and elections in real time by third parties ahead of the European Parliament elections.”
Just over a month before the European elections scheduled for June 6 and 9, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says, quoted in the note, that Brussels is acting “to protect European citizens from disinformation and manipulation by some third countries.”
“If we suspect a violation of the rules, we act. This is true at any time, but especially during democratic elections,” emphasizes Ursula von der Leyen, who, despite not being on the European People’s Party list for the European elections, is the party’s main candidate for the European Commission, seeking a second term in the Community Executive.
“Major digital platforms must live up to their responsibilities and invest sufficient resources in this area, and Tuesday’s decision shows that we take compliance seriously,” says the person in charge.
Ursula von der Leyen, who travels to Prague on Tuesday, highlights the cooperation of EU member states on the issue, especially the Czech Republic for its “active role in resolving this issue.” [combate à desinformação] at European level”, as well as in Belgium, which activated “an emergency mechanism for the exchange of information between Member States”.
Opening up a formal process for Meta as a priority is based on preliminary analysis of reports on the risks associated with illegal content and disinformation, data access, ad-free subscription policies, and generative artificial intelligence.
Since late August last year and after an adjustment period, the EU has become the first jurisdiction in the world to have rules for digital platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, which are now required to remove illegal content.
Companies that do not comply with this new legislation may face fines proportional to their size, with larger companies subject to penalties of up to 6% of their global turnover.
These obligations stem from the introduction of the EU Digital Services Act, under which the Commission identified 19 very large online platforms with 45 million monthly active users that will have to comply with the new rules, including Facebook and Instagram.
The new Digital Services Act was created to protect the fundamental rights of online users and is an unprecedented law in the digital space that holds platforms accountable for illegal and harmful content, namely misinformation.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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