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The guidelines stem from rules laid down by the Digital Services Act, under which Big Tech has an obligation to reduce risks posed by tech to the electoral process.
The EU has dropped new election guidelines for online giants such as Meta, Google and TikTok ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in June.
These include requirements around setting up internal election teams, promoting official information on electoral processes, adopting measures to reduce the risk posed by generative AI and other guidelines for the smooth functioning of the democratic process.
This year, elections are planned in 🇪🇺 and 17 European countries. Protecting their integrity is crucial.
We've published guidelines on recommended measures to Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines to mitigate systemic risks for electoral processes.
Learn more ↓#DSA
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) March 26, 2024
Published today (26 March), the guidelines stem from rules laid down by the Digital Services Act (DSA), under which designated platforms with more than 45m active users in the EU – known as Very Large Online Platforms – have an obligation to reduce risks related to the electoral process while safeguarding fundamental rights, including the right to freedom of expression.
“Given their unique cross-border and European dimension, Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines should ensure that sufficient resources and risk mitigation measures are available and distributed in a way that is proportionate to the risk assessments,” a statement from the European Commission reads.
“The guidelines represent best practices for mitigating risks related to electoral processes at this moment in time. As such, Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines which do not follow these guidelines must prove to the Commission that the measures undertaken are equally effective in mitigating the risks.”
If the Commission has doubts about the suitability of such measures, it said it can request further information or start formal proceedings under the DSA. The specifics of the guidelines published today are available here.
Just last month, the EU opened a formal investigation into ByteDance-owned TikTok as it suspects the Chinese company of potential breaches of the DSA, including the protection of minors, transparency, addictive design and harmful content.
“We adopted the DSA to make sure technologies serve people, and the societies that we live in,” said commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
“Ahead of crucial European elections, this includes obligations for platforms to protect users from risks related to electoral processes – like manipulation, or disinformation. Today’s guidelines provide concrete recommendations for platforms to put this obligation into practice.”
In December, the Commission also opened formal proceedings against X to assess whether the platform has violated the terms of the DSA, particularly in areas linked to risk management, content moderation, dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers.
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