The new European regulation on digital services, known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), has been in effect for a few weeks now in most European Union countries, including France. This legislation enables imposing substantial fines on social networks that “regularly disseminate hate speech or violent content.” Referencing this new regulatory framework, the European Commission has cautioned Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Instagram to more diligently comply with the legal norms established within the European Union territory.
“It’s particularly significant that this law has come into effect just before the European elections,” highlighted French lawyer Frederic Petit in a conversation with The Ukrainian Week. “It primarily targets the major social networks based in the United States, which are actively and covertly used by creators of defamatory content, also known as ‘black PR,’ to undermine the support for competitors and inconvenient speakers. Totalitarian regimes, such as Russia, China, Iran, and a number of Arab countries, are particularly notorious for exploiting these capabilities. The new regulation, among other things, enables us to counteract Russian bot farms, which Moscow has proliferated, notably on X (formerly Twitter) after the platform changed ownership. We are well aware of how systematically and regularly the Russian Federation interferes in electoral processes in Western countries. Therefore, this new tool is aimed at, not least, combating Russian disinformation.”
The lawyer emphasised that since the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine, i.e., since 2014, fact-checking services have made numerous efforts to identify and debunk false information. However, in the meantime, while all these debunkings are being written and disseminated, fake news manages to reach thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands, of people. “When it comes to removing bot farms and related content, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) are very inconsistent, if they take any action at all,” he added. The Digital Services Act (DSA) opens up new possibilities. The European Commission has repeatedly urged X (formerly Twitter) to improve its content moderation, especially in relation to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as well as the war in Ukraine. Therefore, the EU Commission will soon launch a separate investigation into Elon Musk’s network. If violations are proven, the networks could face a fine: 6% of X’s turnover, or a modest amount of 180 million euros.
The European Commission also requests that social media platforms “clearly” label content generated by artificial intelligence. The DSA aims to safeguard European citizens from illicit content circulating online, such as child pornography and terrorist videos. This EU regulation entails the blocking of online sales of hazardous or counterfeit goods. Search engines and social media platforms are now required to adhere to a set of obligations within the EU. For instance, all internet users are empowered to swiftly report illegal content. Upon receiving a signal of an apparent violation, the platform must promptly take it down. Additionally, the DSA includes provisions to uphold freedom of speech. Specifically, it allows authors whose content was wrongfully removed to request a review of the decision and further analysis of the publication.
