The Brief – EU elections are a major stress test for digital rulebook

The upcoming EU elections will be a major stress test for the bloc’s digital rulebook, and particularly the Digital Services Act (DSA), a landmark content moderation law.

European Commission officials, MEPs, and member states have been ringing the alarm over the safety of elections and online spaces, given the increasing number of foreign interference threats and disinformation campaigns.

The DSA, in force since February, is supposed to fight such content, which can jeopardise the elections, by designating very large platforms, such as Meta, which then have to follow rules on transparency and removal of illegal or harmful content.

It’s a “complete toolbox”, the Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton said in an October 2023 speech.

With 27 countries heading to the polls amid high political tensions, content moderators might have their work cut out for them over the weekend. Just how successful the DSA has been might also become apparent.

There has been a barrage of investigations into platforms, particularly Meta, in recent months. The Facebook and Instagram parent company is suspected of DSA breaches for having insufficient moderation to fight disinformation, among other things.

But these measures do not appear to be enough.

In late April, the Commission published a set of guidelines for very large platforms of the elections. But these guidelines only came a little over a month before the elections – and they weren’t binding.

“In view of numerous upcoming elections and not least those to the European Parliament, the Commission strongly encourages” large platforms “to implement these guidelines quickly and comprehensively and welcomes assessments from researchers and civil society organisations on the effectiveness of the risk mitigation measures taken,” the guidelines said.

Just 10 days later, the Mozilla Foundation warned, based on a study by CheckFirst, that big platforms’ transparency measures fall short of DSA requirements ahead of the elections.

In the wake of the assassination attempt on Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico on 15 May, multiple disinformation narratives were spreading on social media.

A team of EU-backed experts who monitor Russian disinformation, called the East Stratcom Task Force, said it has found it difficult to fight disinformation.

The Commission is considering bringing a 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation officially under the DSA’s fold, the executive’s Vice President Věra Jourová told Politico on Monday (3 June).

And MEP Kim van Sparrentak (Greens, Netherlands) told Euractiv on Tuesday that problems with the DSA and a lack of implementation of measures have become apparent.

But any changes or additions to the DSA will have to wait for a new European Parliament and a new Commission to be in place. Meanwhile, the elections will put the Act through its paces and, hopefully, provide a more precise map of its strengths and weaknesses.

All that said, it might still be too soon to judge the DSA’s effect on elections, given that it only came into force in February. Whether by changes to the framework, or its better implementation, next year’s elections might be a better time to judge whether the Act is effective.

The Roundup

In response to a growing number of emergencies – particularly climate-related disasters – the European Commission is looking for better coordination and new tools to strengthen the bloc’s crisis-response abilities.

An alliance of producers of small nuclear modular reactors used their general assembly last week to define a work plan for the rest of 2024, establishing eight working groups to deliver on their objectives.

Some EU countries are looking to start a focus group on human rights and tech standards under the International Telecommunications Union umbrella, Bilel Jamoussi, who leads these groups at the international organisation, told Euractiv.

As rapporteur and co-rapporteur on several health-related files, MEP Tiemo Wölken has consistently prioritised fair access to medicines and transparent pricing, and with EU elections looming, he is eyeing a third mandate.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday that he would likely be the EU centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) main negotiator after the European elections on 9 June.

In the next European Commission mandate, the enlargement and neighbourhood file is expected to be one of the most prized possessions when it comes to distributing EU top jobs among member states.

Look out for…

• Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas meets with Lebanese PM Najib Mikati in Beirut on Wednesday.
• Vice President Maroš Šefčovič delivers keynote speech at EU Global Gateway event in Bratislava on Thursday.

Views are the author’s

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]