Meta, TikTok Set For EU Stress Test Before German Elections

The European Union plans to grill social media companies on their plans to counter disinformation ahead of the German election next month in the bloc’s first “stress test” for a national election.

Elon Musk’s X social network, Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, TikTok, Microsoft Corp. and its subsidiary LinkedIn have all been invited to a meeting with German regulators on Jan. 31 in Bonn, a commission spokesperson said. 

There, European Commission officials will quiz the tech companies on how they’d counter scenarios that could interfere with the election, such as AI-generated fakes, cyber attacks or disinformation campaigns. The simulation will test the companies’ compliance with the EU’s Digital Services Act, which requires large platforms to combat harmful and illegal content.

“The stress test is really going through potential scenarios where DSA comes into play, and to check with platforms how they would react,” said commission spokesman Thomas Regnier. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, is holding snap elections on Feb. 23 after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition unraveled. 

A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment. Representatives for the other platforms didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. 

The Commission is increasing its scrutiny around elections after recent turmoil in Romania, whose presidential election was annulled last year following intelligence that foreign actors had interfered by spreading fake information ahead of the vote. They’re also taking a closer look at Musk’s conversation with German far-right candidate Alice Weidel — whom he interviewed in a X live-stream earlier this month.

Companies that violate the DSA can be slapped with fines of as much as 6% of their yearly global sales. X, Meta and TikTok are currently under investigation for suspected breaches. 

Rules like the DSA, which seek to rein in the power of predominantly American tech companies, are setting the bloc up for a clash with the new US administration. President Donald Trump slammed EU regulators in a speech broadcast from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. He called the fines the EU doles to companies that breach its regulations “a form of taxation,” and said “we have some very big complaints with the EU.” 

While the EU ramps up enforcement of new rules meant to protect users from harmful content, US social media platforms are scaling back on content moderation. Meta is doing away with third-party fact checkers in the US in favor of a “community notes” system to combat viral hoaxes and other misinformation on its platform. That follows X, which began using a similar system in 2021. 

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has said it will review its obligations under EU law before making the switch in Europe.