Report from DW
In Brief – EU Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, the lead EU commissioner on tech policy, has urged major social media platforms to more closely monitor misinformation following the Ceuta border crisis. European, Spanish and Moroccan authorities say false information that spread on social media platforms including TikTok, Telegram and Meta’s services helped fuel the events. Virkkunen met with representatives of Meta and TikTok and said social media platforms must act decisively to protect the integrity of the digital space, calling for increased monitoring and stronger cooperation with fact-checkers. Among the many claims that circulated on social media were that the EU border was open and that accommodation and transportation to mainland Spain would be provided from the Ceuta enclave. The crisis, which was marked by over 70,000 border-crossers, intensified Europe’s immigration and security debates and led to criticism of the Spanish Government by several leaders of other EU Member States.
Context – The European Commission has been pressing digital platforms to combat disinformation for more than a decade. They organized a voluntary Code of Practice on Disinformation that began in 2018 and was strengthened into the Code of Conduct on Disinformation in 2022. That Code, which has been integrated into the Digital Services Act (DSA) governance regime, is signed by 42 entities including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok, as well as participants from across the digital advertising ecosystem, fact-checkers, civil society organizations and researchers. Commitments include reducing manipulative behavior such as deceptive bots and fake accounts and providing better tools to empower researchers and the fact-checking community to identify disinformation. The Trump Administration has harshly criticized the EU for policing online content EU leaders call disinformation that some conservatives argue is just ideological disagreement and X pulled out of the Code of Practice after Elon Musk purchased the company. X’s policies on disinformation are being investigated under the DSA.