By Mauro Orru and Christian Moess Laursen


The European Union is investigating whether Meta Platforms shirked responsibility in tackling disinformation and misleading advertising in breach of its sweeping digital regulation ahead of EU elections in June.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said Tuesday that it had opened formal proceedings against Facebook and Instagram over suspected infringements of the Digital Services Act when it comes to deceptive advertising and political content on Meta's platforms.

Approved in 2022, the Digital Services Act requires large social-media platforms to take steps to deal with content that regulators view as harmful, and give users an avenue to register their complaints about content moderation. The maximum fine for a large online platform or search engine that breaks the rules is set at 6% of global revenue.

"We have a well-established process for identifying and mitigating risks on our platforms," a Meta spokesperson said. "We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the European Commission and providing them with further details of this work."

The announcement of formal proceedings comes as social-media platforms face growing scrutiny over their efforts to remove fake content and misleading information in an era when artificial intelligence tools make it easier for bad-faith actors to manipulate content and depict public figures endorsing political views that aren't their own.

Earlier this month, Belgium said it had opened an investigation into a Russian disinformation network seeking to influence upcoming European elections and weaken support for Ukraine. Tech giants have been grappling with bots and organized disinformation campaigns for years.

In 2022, Meta exposed Doppelganger, one of the largest and most aggressive Russian operations the company has seen. Last year, the company said it took down a cross-platform campaign aimed at advancing China's interests and discrediting its adversaries including the U.S.

The commission said it suspects Meta isn't doing enough to tackle the dissemination of deceptive advertisements, disinformation campaigns and bots ahead of European elections from June 6 to 9. The bloc also believes Meta's policy to demote political content in algorithm recommendations of Instagram and Facebook, including their feeds, doesn't comply with the Digital Services Act.

"Deceptive advertising is a risk to our online debate and ultimately to our rights as both consumers and citizens," said Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition czar. "We suspect that Meta's moderation is insufficient, that it lacks transparency of advertisements and content moderation procedures."

Meanwhile, Meta is planning to shut down CrowdTangle, a data tool long used by academic researchers, journalists and others to monitor the spread of content on Facebook and Instagram. The company will replace CrowdTangle with a tool called the Meta Content Library, which will be available only to academic and nonprofit researchers, not to most news outlets.

However, the EU is concerned the decision could harm civic discourse and electoral processes given that Meta's platforms count more than 250 million active users a month in the bloc.

The probe will also look at Meta's mechanism to flag illegal content.

The bloc said it believes the company doesn't have an effective internal system to lodge complaints against content-moderation decisions that have already been made. It also suspects Meta's mechanism that allows users to flag illegal content in its platforms isn't easy and user-friendly enough.

Opening formal proceedings allows the EU to take steps such as imposing interim measures and orders. The bloc said it would continue to gather evidence to corroborate its suspicions by sending requests for information, conducting interviews or even inspections. Meta can make proposals to allay the EU's concerns.


Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com and Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-30-24 1150ET