The European Union is investigating Meta’s electoral politics

The EU has officially launched a major investigation into Meta over alleged failures to stamp out election disinformation. While statement of the European Commission does not specifically mention Russia, Meta confirmed to Engadget that the EU investigation is targeting the country’s Doppelganger campaign, an online disinformation operation pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda.

Bloombergthe sources of also said the study focused on Russia’s disinformation operation, describing it as a series of “attempts to replicate the appearance of traditional news sources while disgorging content favorable to the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

The investigation comes a day after France said 27 of the 29 EU member states were targeted by pro-Russian online propaganda ahead of June’s European Parliament elections. On Monday, France’s Foreign Ministry, Jean-Noël Barro, called on social platforms to block websites “participating in a foreign interference operation.”

A Meta spokesperson told Engadget that the company was at the forefront of uncovering the Russian Doppelganger campaign, first bringing it to light in 2022. The company said it has since investigated, disrupted and blocked tens of thousands of the network’s assets. The Facebook and Instagram owner says he remains on high alert to monitor the network, while claiming that Doppelganger has struggled to successfully build an organic audience for pro-Putin fake news.

The president of the European Commission said Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), the landmark legislation passed in 2022 that gives the EU the power to regulate social platforms. The law allows the EC, if necessary, to impose large fines on offending companies – up to six percent of the company’s global annual turnover, potentially changing the way social companies operate.

In a statement to Engadget, Meta said, “We have a well-established process for identifying and mitigating risks on our platforms. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the European Commission and providing them with further details on this work.”

The EC’s investigation will cover “Meta’s policies and practices related to deceptive advertising and political content on its services.” It also addresses “the unavailability of an effective real-time third-party civil discourse and election monitoring tool before the European Parliament elections”.

The latter refers to Meta’s refusal to use its CrowdTangle tool, which researchers and fact-checkers have used for years to study how content spreads on Facebook and Instagram. Dozens of groups signed an open letter last month saying that Meta’s planned shutdown during the crucial 2024 global election poses a “direct threat” to the integrity of global elections.

Meta told Engadget that CrowdTangle provides only a fraction of publicly available data and would fall short as a full-fledged election monitoring tool. The company says it is building new tools on its platform to provide more comprehensive data to researchers and other outside parties. It says it is currently engaging key third-party fact-checking partners to help identify misinformation.

However, with elections in Europe in June and critical US elections in November, Meta needs to get to work with its new API if it wants the tools to work when it matters most.

The EC gave Meta five working days to respond to its concerns before considering escalating the matter further. “This commission has created the means to protect European citizens from targeted disinformation and manipulation by third countries,” EC President von der Leyen wrote. “If we suspect a violation of the rules, we act.”