Report from Bloomberg
In Brief – The European Commission and German Government are planning to perform a “stress test” on the major digital platforms on January 31 to determine their processes regarding the upcoming German elections. Meta, Microsoft, Google, Snap, TikTok, and X have been invited to a meeting hosted by the German Digital Services Coordinator where Commission officials will quiz them on how they will deal with conduct involving the February 23rd election, including AI fakes, cyber-attacks or disinformation campaigns. The stress test is being performed as part of the platforms’ compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires large platforms to combat harmful and illegal content. The Commission hosted a roundtable last June in the run-up to the EU parliamentary elections, as well as last November after the first round of the Romanian Presidential elections.
Context – Regardless of the official communiques, the increasingly massive public profile of Elon Musk on political matters, and the alleged role of social media, especially TikTok, on the now paused Romanian presidential election, are hanging over this regulatory intervention. And Musk comes hand-in-hand with the perspective of President Trump who seems to hold government-directed online “censorship” of conservative viewpoints as first among his digital policy concerns. It’s not possible to overlook that Musk’s high-profile intervention in the German elections, including praising the AfD and hosting a one-on-one interview with its leader, his criticism of leaders like UK PM Keir Starmer, his huge backing of candidate Donald Trump, or the shock win in the first Romanian election round by insurgent ultranationalist candidate Călin Georgescu quickly attributed by the Romanian Government to Russia-sponsored interference on TikTok, are all populist challenges to the traditional order. Both X and TikTok are already being investigated under the DSA by the Commission challenging whether their recommendation algorithms are properly balanced and protected from alleged disinformation or partisan interference.