Semafor Signals
Supported by
EU reportedly plans to investigate Facebook and Instagram
Insights from Politico, The Telegraph, and WIRED
The News
The EU is expected to launch a probe into Meta over violations of the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) for failing to contain Russian disinformation on Facebook and Instagram, Politico and the Financial Times reported Monday.
EU regulators believe Meta has failed to clearly identify political ads or AI-generated content as required by the DSA. European governments have warned that Russian propaganda has been spreading on Meta’s platforms ahead of June’s EU parliamentary elections.
Meta is now the third tech company after X and TikTok to face EU scrutiny over potentially harmful content. The tech giant has been in European regulators’ crosshairs for months over several issues, including its content moderation of the Israel-Gaza war and Instagram’s mental health impact on teens. Meta is also suing the European Commission over what it claims is a disproportionate levy to fund DSA enforcement.
SIGNALS
Russian propaganda fuels anti-Ukraine sentiment
A Russian disinformation campaign called Doppelganger has been flooding Facebook despite Meta’s assurances that it is complying with EU content moderation requirements. Between August 2023 and March, the campaign reached five to 10 times more people than previously thought, largely targeting European farmers protesting over environmental regulations and Ukrainian grain imports. Their protests were “fertile for Russian propaganda,” Politico reported, as Kremlin-linked social media accounts posted updates portraying Ukrainian goods as unfair competition. The EU’s DSA requires platforms like Facebook to label political or AI-generated content, but over 65% of political posts were not labeled and less than 5% were taken down, according to the AI Forensics research group. Meta has downplayed the concerns and told Politico it has seen a “consistent decline” in Russian disinformation.
European social media apps are failing as alternatives
In the wake of increasing scrutiny over US Big Tech, European governments have had limited success in pushing lawmakers and bureaucrats to use homegrown technology with more privacy features. France, for instance, banned ministers from using the Meta-owned WhatsApp last year, instead requiring them to use the French-made Olvid messaging app. Other platforms are losing ground: The EU on Monday announced it was shutting down EUVoice — a Mastodon-powered “privacy-friendly” X rival that only had 18 active users remaining since its 2022 launch, The Telegraph reported.
US concerned about China disinformation campaign, but it has limited impact
China is the US’ biggest concern when it comes to disinformation ahead of November’s presidential election. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was evidence of Beijing’s attempts to interfere in the upcoming elections, and he warned Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week against doing so. But China’s efforts have had limited impact, experts told WIRED, as state actors generating disinformation have little cultural context over how to sway public opinion: Beijing-linked accounts often resort to tactics used in “closed and tightly controlled platforms like WeChat and Weibo” that don’t translate well to platforms like X, one researcher said. Unlike Russian propaganda, Chinese disinformation campaigns don’t “synchronize their efforts,” another researcher said, doing little to amplify political messages.
