Meta’s Facebook and Instagram face sweeping fines after the European Commission opened probes on Tuesday into their handling of disinformation from Russia and other foreign countries.
The popular online platforms are suspected of failing to uphold requirements to limit the spread of falsehoods and coordinated foreign manipulation under the bloc's content-moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA). Companies can face fines of up to 6 percent of their annual revenues over infringements.
"This Commission has created means to protect European citizens from targeted disinformation and manipulation by third countries. If we suspect a violation of the rules, we act," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a press release.
POLITICO previously reported on the upcoming investigations, which come amid warnings about a surge in Russian interference ahead of European Parliament elections on June 6-9 in which hundreds of millions of Europeans are expected to cast their ballots.
EU institutions and member countries are due to hold regular crisis meetings to tackle foreign interference targeting the EU election after Belgium last week triggered a European response mechanism. EU countries are also weighing a much broader sanctions regime for Russian manipulation operations worldwide.
The Commission said Meta's Facebook and Instagram may not sufficiently limit the spread of deceptive advertisements, disinformation campaigns and coordinated bot farms. EU officials also said Meta's platforms could be exploited by rampant scams and ads generated by artificial intelligence tools.
POLITICO reported earlier this month that a Russian influence campaign, flagged by French and German authorities, is thriving on Facebook, pushing pro-Kremlin narratives with ads purchased via fake accounts.
Facebook and Instagram may also be unlawfully limiting the visibility of political content on their platform without sufficiently informing users. This means that users may not realize their posts about social and political issues may be more restricted by the algorithm.
The platforms are also making it too hard for users to report potentially illegal content, the Commission said.
Officials are also concerned that Meta is limiting external scrutiny of its platforms as it gradually phases out CrowdTangle, a tool for real-time monitoring of viral content including potential disinformation. The company will have five working days to explain how it will ensure sufficient access for journalists, disinformation experts and researchers.
Meta is the fourth company targeted by DSA probes initiated by the Commission, which oversees more than 20 major online platforms.
The EU is probing TikTok over potential failure to protect minors and AliExpress for not safeguarding consumers from illegal and dangerous products. Social media network X (formerly Twitter) also faces penalties for unchecked disinformation and illegal content.
Meta spokesperson Ben Walters referred POLITICO to previous statements about the company’s work to fight Russian disinformation. He also repeated that the company has “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,” he said.
POLITICO
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