EU calls on tech giants to battle ‘Russian disinformation’ ahead of polls

Brussels — European Commission vice-president Vera Jourova on Tuesday urged Google, Microsoft, Meta Platforms and TikTok to do more to tackle what she called Russia’s “multimillion-euro weapon of mass manipulation” ahead of elections in Europe.

Concerns have mounted in recent months about a spate of disinformation related to parliamentary elections in Slovakia on September 30 and Poland in October, as well as European parliament elections in 2024.

The companies and other online platforms have submitted data on their activity in the past six months to fight fake news as part of the EU code of practice on disinformation.

“The Russian state has engaged in the war of ideas to pollute our information space with half-truth and lies to create a false image that democracy is no better than autocracy,” she told a press conference.

“Today, this is a multimillion-euro weapon of mass manipulation ... The ‘very large platforms’ must address this risk. Especially as we have to expect that the Kremlin and others will be active before elections.”

After the European parliament elections in 2019, Russia’s security council described accusations that Moscow had spread disinformation to sway voters as absurd.

In February 2022, Yevgeny Prigozhin, late head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, acknowledged having founded the Internet Research Agency, which Washington says is a disinformation “farm” that meddled in the 2016 US presidential election.

Jourova had a warning for X (formerly Twitter), which quit the EU’s voluntary code in May but under the EU’s Digital Services Act counts as a “very large online platform”, subject to stricter content rules.

Elon Musk “knows that he is not off the hook by leaving the code of practice because now we have the Digital Services Act fully enforced. So my message for Twitter is you have to comply with the hard law and we will be watching what you are doing,” she said.

Russia for its part has clamped down on Western social media platforms after tightening censorship since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and found Facebook-owner Meta guilty of “extremist activity” in March 2022.

Reuters