EU prepares social media giants for stress test on disinformation

The European Union (EU) is probing social media heavyweights including Meta and X as part of a stress test on disinformation ahead of the upcoming national election in Germany, next month. 

Through the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU bloc, social media platforms have been asked to take part in the assessment to determine if they are doing enough to combat interference, as mandated by European law. 

The January 31 stress test will examine if the sites have the appropriate safeguards in place, as required by the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). 

Microsoft and its LinkedIn subsidiary, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, Google, Snap, TikTok, and X have all been asked to get involved. 

“The stress test is really going through potential scenarios where DSA comes into play and to check with platforms how they would react to these specific scenarios,” said EU spokesperson Thomas Regnier. 

Reuters reported ByteDance-owned TikTok confirmed it would attend the gathering next week, with the other platforms yet to publicly declare their intentions. 

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 https://t.co/5CyjptbS0H

— Bloomberg Technology (@technology) January 24, 2025

In recent weeks, X supremo Elon Musk has posted on his social media site to pledge his support to the far-right AfD, which included the hosting of a livestream conversation with party leader, Alice Weidel. 

That proved to be a major point of contention in Germany, leading to demands for the EU to take action on disinformation.

A regime change at the White House means a second term for Donald Trump with his administration known to favor light-touch regulation. This is reflected in the significant change from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, to adopt a less stringent fact-checking policy, more in line with the community-based system on X.

President Trump has already signed an executive order in support of free speech, which will also negate what is considered federal government censorship. He has made his direction of travel very clear, which is likely to lead to tensions with the EU over DSA-linked fact-checking obligations and the wider issue of disinformation.

Image credit: Via Grok/X

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