BRUSSELS INVESTIGATES META, TIKTOK AND X FOR MISINFORMATION

The European Commission has sent this Thursday, October 19, 2023 to Meta and TikTok a formal request for information about the measures they have taken to comply with the obligations related to the mitigation of illegal content and disinformation.

Meta and TikTok will have until October 27 to provide the requested information related to the dissemination of misinformation and illegal content, especially that information disseminated related to the conflict between Hamas and Israel. On October 12, Brussels transferred the same request to Elon Musk’s social network X.

Last Wednesday, October 18, Josep Borrell drew the attention of MEPs during the debate on the war in Gaza as a result of the false content that was circulating on social networks related to the situation in the Middle East. “Don’t add horror to the horror,” said the High Representative. “Social networks are full of videos and false descriptions of what has happened.” He assured that “intense work is being done to describe what is pure information manipulation.” Alluding to the information disseminated about the alleged babies decapitated at the hands of Hamas, he pointed out that “Western leaders have had to retract.”

On the other hand, they will have a second deadline until November 8 to inform the European Commission about the measures taken to guarantee the integrity of the elections, and, in the case of TikTok, they must also provide information on how it has acted to ensure the protection of minors.

As the Commission itself has explained, having been designated as a very large online platform, both must comply with the full set of provisions introduced by the Digital Services Law, “including the evaluation and mitigation of risks related to the dissemination of illegal content, disinformation and any negative effect on the exercise of fundamental rights.”

This news was originally published in Aquí Europa.