The European Union (EU) on April 30 opened an investigation into Facebook and Instagram of technology group Meta due to suspicions that these platforms have not fully implemented measures to combat fake news online ahead of the European Parliament (EP) elections in June.
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| EU investigates Facebook and Instagram ahead of European Parliament elections. (Source: Getty Images) |
The EU's Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said the investigation aimed to "ensure that effective action is taken, in particular to prevent the exploitation of vulnerabilities in Instagram and Facebook due to foreign interference".
EU concerns about the harmful effects of deepfake technology are growing, especially the risk of disinformation about the European Parliament elections taking place in the bloc's 27 member states from June 6-9.
The EU has recently repeatedly called on Facebook, TikTok and other tech giants to prevent fake images, videos using deepfake technology and other content generated by artificial intelligence (AI), by clearly "labeling" them as harmful.
The recommendation is part of new guidelines issued by the European Commission (EC) under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to address pre-election risks, including disinformation.
Since OpenAI's ChatGPT was launched in late 2022, EU concerns about the technology's potential harms have also grown, particularly the risk of disinformation around the upcoming European Parliament elections.
The EU says if regulators suspect tech companies are not fully complying, they can launch investigations that could lead to huge fines.
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