Alex Agius Saliba on disinformation, social media platforms and electoral processes

We want social platforms like X or TikTok to take their responsibilities seriously. We applaud today’s move by the Commission to take additional steps and launch an investigation against TikTok. They should employ all of the resources at their disposal right away in order to complete this probe as quickly as possible before other European elections. The Digital Services Act is the cornerstone to protect us all against the spread of disinformation. We, the Socialists and Democrats, will keep working hand in hand with the Commission to ensure its proper and rapid enforcement. But, we also urge the new Commission to increase vigilance and regulation of digital platforms during critical political events, while safeguarding freedom of speech and avoiding censorship. To this aim, the voluntary EU Code of Practice on Disinformation, currently signed by Meta and TikTok, must be properly respected to prevent the amplification of false or harmful content. The EU’s code aims at increasing transparency and blocking the spread of bots and fake accounts. Elon Musk’s decision to pull X out of it in 2023 shows his deliberative complicity with the spread of toxic content.

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