European Commission asks Meta and TikTok for accountability for moderating fake news

The European Commission has formally requested Meta and TikTok to explain how the companies combat fake news surrounding the conflict between Hamas and Israel on their social media. The EU wants to check whether companies comply with moderation rules under the Digital Services Act law.

The companies have a week to answer questions from the Commission, so reports the AP. If the companies do not comply with the EC’s requests, the Commission can launch follow-up investigations and impose penalty payments of up to six percent of a company’s global turnover. TikTok itself announced a few days ago that it was tightening supervision of information dissemination about the war in question. Meta previously said it has developed processes to deal appropriately with such conflicts.

Apart from the tightened control over information about the war between Hamas and Israel, TikTok and Meta still have until November 8 to provide clarity about the policy regarding illegal content for minors and the protection of election integrity, respectively. In all cases, the European Commission can launch a formal investigation and impose fines if companies do not cooperate with initial information requests.

Previously, European Commissioner Thierry Breton made the same request to X. In that case, Breton specifically addressed Elon Musk in an open letter, after which the EC started an official initial investigation into the platform. In the case of TikTok and Meta, letters asking for information were sent in early October, and further follow-up requests were submitted behind closed doors.