Brussels (Brussels Morning) – The European Commission is assessing Meta’s potential Digital Services Act breaches concerning deceptive ads, political content visibility, and inadequate monitoring tools. Formal proceedings are underway, signalling stringent compliance enforcement.
The European Commission has extended formal proceedings to evaluate whether Meta, the provider of Facebook and Instagram, may have violated the Digital Services Act (DSA).
According to the Press of Commission, The suspected violations cover Meta’s policies and practices connecting to deceptive advertising and political content on its services. They are also concerned regarding the non-availability of an adequate third-party real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring means ahead of the elections to the EU Parliament, against the background of Meta’s deprecation of its real-time public understandings tool CrowdTangle without an adequate replacement.
How Effective is Meta’s Content Flagging Mechanism?
Further, the Commission states that it presumes that the mechanism for flagging illegal content on the services (“Notice-and-Action”) as well as the user redress and internal complaint mechanisms are not appreciative of the requirements of the Digital Services Act and that there are flaws in Meta’s provision of access to publicly unrestricted data to researchers. The opening of proceedings is founded on a preliminary analysis of the risk assessment information sent by Meta in September 2023.
What did the Commission President Say?
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated: “This Commission has created standards to protect European citizens from targeted disinformation and manipulation by third nations. If we suspect a breach of the rules, we act. This is true at all times, but especially in times of democratic elections. Big digital platforms must live up to their responsibilities to put enough resources into this and today’s decision indicates that we are serious about compliance. Protecting our democracies is a joint fight with our Member States. Today in Prague I want to thank Prime Minister Fiala for his active position in raising the issue at the European level, along with the triggering by Belgium of the emergency instrument for the exchange of information between Member States.”
Moreover, The current proceedings will focus on the following areas: Deceptive advertisements and disinformation; visibility of political content;Â The non-availability of an effective third-party real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring tool ahead of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and other elections in various Member States; The mechanism to flag illegal content.Â
If proven, these failures would constitute infringements of the Articles of the DSA. The Commission will currently carry out an in-depth investigation as a consequence of priority. The opening of legal proceedings does not prejudge its outcome.
The current opening of proceedings is without prejudice to any other proceeding that the Commission may decide to initiate on any other conduct that may constitute an infringement under the DSA.
What Are the European Commission’s Next Steps?
In the Next Steps, After the formal commencement of proceedings, the Commission will continue to collect evidence, for example by sending additional demands for information and conducting interviews or inspections.
The opening of formal proceedings authorises the Commission to take further enforcement actions, such as interim measures, and non-compliance conclusions. The Commission is also empowered to carry commitments made by Meta to remedy the problems raised in the proceedings. The DSA does not impose any legal deadline for bringing formal proceedings to an end. The course of an in-depth investigation relies on several factors, including the complexity of the case, the degree to which the company concerned collaborates with the Commission and the exercise of the rights of defence.
