The European Commission has asked X, TikTok, Facebook and other online platforms to mitigate risks to elections and clamp down on voter disinformation, as part of new guidelines adopted on Tuesday.
The guidelines – targeted at online platforms with more than 45 million active users in the EU, and therefore designated ‘Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines’ under the bloc’s pioneering Digital Services Act (DSA) – set out potential measures to tackle election-related risks, harmful AI content, and misleading political advertising.
They also include specific guidelines for June’s crunch pan-EU election, amid fears of increased malign interference and a deluge of misinformation online.
Although the guidelines are not legally binding, the Commission could launch formal proceedings against any platform that deviates from the DSA provisions on elections and democratic processes. This could see the executive slap fines of as much as 6% of global turnover on non-compliant platforms and search engines.
The move is part of a coordinated effort by Brussels to clamp down on the industry’s penchant for self-regulation, which has often been decried as complacent and insufficient, and force Big Tech to do more to uphold democratic values.