Following his extensive involvement in the United States Presidential Election, Elon Musk has shifted his focus across the Atlantic and towards Europe. In recent days, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and politicians in Germany preparing for national elections on the 23rd February, have expressed their concerns regarding the influence of Musk on European elections. In particular, MEPs are calling for enforcement of the Digital Services Act, so what is it and why does it matter?
What is the EU’s Digital Services Act?
“Europe has an ever increasing number of laws institutionalizing censorship” - these words from the owner of Meta and recent freedom of speech convert, Mark Zuckerberg, express a new current of thought within the right-wing of American media that has taken root over the past couple of years.
Zuckerberg joins Elon Musk, X’s outspoken owner, in criticising new European legislation designed to guard against misinformation and the dissemination of hate and harmful content. Musk accused the EU Commission of “offering X an illegal secret deal” to censor speech after the Commission found Musk to not be in compliance with the Digital Services Act, an accusation that was strongly denied by the EU.
Since the 17th February 2024, the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) has applied to all online platforms. One of the DSA’s key goals is to protect consumers by preventing ‘illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation’. Alongside its main goal, the DSA seeks to ensure that illegal content online can be easily reported and that children, in particular, are protected from targeted advertisements and other threats like grooming and radicalisation.
Some of the key regulations of the DSA for organisations include:
- Compliance with orders from national authorities to act against illegal content
- The preparation and publication of an annual publicly available report on their content removal and moderation activities
- Include clear information relating to algorithmic decision making
- Implementation of a mechanism which enables a third party to report alleged illegal information
- An obligation to notify law enforcement of criminal offences which the online platform becomes aware of
- Compliance regarding enhanced transparency obligations including advertisement and the removal of content
If the EU Commission believes that a platform is violating the regulations contained within the DSA then they are empowered to open an investigation into the matter. If the investigation finds that the platform is indeed violating the provisions of the DSA then the Commission will open a proceeding which allows the platform to respond to the findings of the investigation and any potential penalty measures which the Commission outlines. If the online platform is found to be in breach of the DSA following the investigation and proceeding, the Commission may impose fines of up to 6% of the platform's global turnover.
Why does it matter?
The DSA and role of the EU Commission to enforce the regulations are currently a hotly debated issue due to fears surrounding electoral interference, particularly in Germany. On the 23rd February, Germany will elect a new government following the collapse of Olaf Scholz’s coalition in November 2024.
Early indications from the polls suggest that the Christian Democratic Union party will emerge victorious, polling at around 31%. However, the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is polling strongly at around 20%, following victory in the state elections of Thuringia late last year.
Many German politicians have expressed their anger with the involvement of Musk as the election draws closer, in particular a scheduled interview with the AfD leader, Alice Weidel, on the 9th January on X. German MEP Damian Boeselager is one such politician, and has expressed his concerns regarding the amplification of the AfD’s rhetoric through Musk’s own amplified content. Boeselager has gone on record to argue that the X algorithm which artificially amplifies Musk’s tweets is “probably illegal under the DSA”, failing requirements on transparency.
Boeselager's comments come after an exposé by Platformer which found that Musk had manipulated X algorithms to ensure engagement with his content remained high. This manipulation has been labelled internally as a “power user multiplier” and only applies to Musk.
Concerns regarding online platforms' interference in elections is not a new phenomenon. In 2016 Cambridge Analytica and Facebook became embroiled in a scandal regarding stolen data from around 50 million users, which was used to inform targeted advertising during the Brexit and 2016 U.S. presidential election. Indeed it was in the wake of this scandal that Mark Zuckerberg appeared before the U.S. Congress and established the Facebook fact-checking system that he is now replacing.
The EU Commission's actions regarding Musk and the upcoming German elections will hopefully ensure the protection of democracy and accurate information as outlined in the DSA. With social media organisations becoming increasingly right-wing, it is an important test of the DSA legislation and its enforcement capabilities. But with Meta joining X in removing fact-checkers, there are concerns over the capabilities of both UK and EU regulators to counteract misinformation online, with Chi Onwurah, chair of the science and technology House of Commons committee, calling Zuckerberg's decision “quite frightening”.
With far-right parties on the march across the Western world, a new FPÖ Chancellorship in Austria, and strong polling performances from the National Rally and AfD in France and Germany respectively, it is more important than ever for governments to ensure that misinformation disseminated across online platforms is regulated to protect democracy’s core values. Without access to accurate information, voters across Europe are at risk of being maliciously misled to the detriment of their freedoms and the fairness of elections.