With the European Parliament elections approaching in June 2024, it is crucial to ensure that social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are taking the necessary steps to combat disinformation and deceptive advertising. The European Commission has raised concerns about these platforms not doing enough to tackle these issues, sparking an investigation into Meta Platforms’ practices.

Here are some key points to consider regarding this situation:

– The European Commission has initiated an investigation into Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram due to concerns over their failure to combat deceptive advertising and disinformation.
– EU regulators are scrutinizing Meta’s adherence to EU online content regulations, particularly in light of worries about external sources and internal political parties spreading lies.
– The Digital Services Act mandates stricter measures for Big Tech companies, with potential fines of up to 6% of their global annual turnover for non-compliance.
– Despite Meta’s defense of its risk mitigation processes, the Commission believes there may be shortcomings in addressing deceptive advertisements, disinformation campaigns, and coordinated inauthentic behavior.
– The absence of an effective third-party real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring tool ahead of the European Parliament elections has raised additional concerns.

In response to these issues, Meta has been given five working days to outline remedial actions. It is essential for these social media platforms to take responsibility for ensuring a safe and transparent online environment during such critical times. Let’s hope that they will work closely with the European Commission to address these concerns effectively. Stay tuned for updates on this ongoing investigation.