An NGO claims that Big Tech platforms are not doing enough to counter fake news
Recently, a non-governmental organization (NGO) Awaz claimed that the world’s major technology platforms are not doing enough to tackle fake news. These platforms include YouTube, Google, Facebook, Instagram Linkedin, TikTok and Twitter. These claims have raised questions about their ability to comply with new EU legislation on online content.
The companies are expected to submit papers this week detailing the steps they have taken to comply with the revised EU rules for online content, which are linked to the online content regulation known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) which came into effect in November last year. year.
An NGO claims that Big Tech platforms are not doing enough to counter fake news
Avaaz analyzed a sample of 108 fact-checked pieces of content related to a 2022 anti-vaccine film and found that social media platforms, including Meta’s Instagram, failed to remove misinformation.
Avaaz stated that only 22% of the disinformation content it analyzed was flagged or removed by the top six platforms. According to the report, the companies did not adequately combat cheating in languages other than English.
“Despite explicit platform obligations in the code to improve their services in all EU languages,” said Avaaz, “our analysis found that in Italian, German, Hungarian, Danish, Spanish and Estonian, no platform took action on message violations .” The group stated, “This investigation shows that most major platforms are not adhering to their Code of Practice commitments and may be violating future DSA obligations.”
After adhering to revised EU regulations, Meta, Alphabet, Twitter and Microsoft pledged last year to take a stronger stance against disinformation. In case of non-compliance with the DSA, companies can face fines of up to 6% of their global turnover.
Checking out? Meta is suing Voyagers Lab for collecting user data through fake accounts
