As the EU prepares to expand its disinformation laws, Google has told the bloc it will no longer integrate the work of its “fact-checking” organization into its search and YouTube platforms.
The Verge report Google has notified the European Union that it will not comply with the bloc's future requirements to include “fact-checking” in its search and YouTube services. The tech giant's decision comes as the EU formalizes its voluntary disinformation efforts under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Google had previously signed a series of EU voluntary commitments in 2022 aimed at reducing the impact of online disinformation. However, in a letter to the European Commission's content and technology czar, Renate Nicolai, Kent Walker, Google's president of international affairs, said that fact-checking requirements were “simply not appropriate or effective for our services.” ” he said. Additionally, Google plans to withdraw from all fact-checking commitments in the DSA Code of Conduct before the rules are enacted.
The EU Code of Practice on Disinformation now requires signatories to collaborate with fact-checkers from all EU countries, make their work accessible to users in all EU languages, and prevent the spread of disinformation on their platforms. Requires the reduction of financial incentives for The provisions also require companies to simplify the process for users to recognize, understand, and report misinformation, and to label political ads and identify fake accounts, bots, and malicious actors that spread disinformation. It also requires deepfakes to be analyzed. However, these promises are not legally binding at this time.
Google's opposition to fact-checking requirements is not entirely unexpected, as the company has not previously incorporated fact-checking as part of its content moderation practices. Google said in its agreement with the EU that “Search and YouTube will work to reach agreements with fact-checking organizations around this measure, but the services do not have complete control over this process.”
Forty online platforms have signed the code, including Microsoft, TikTok, Twitch, and Meta, but the level of effort to meet the requirements is inconsistent. Twitter (now X) initially signed the code, but withdrew after Elon Musk acquired the platform. The European Fact-Checking Standards Network also points out that many other digital platforms that have signed up to voluntary disinformation regulations have been slow to implement their commitments.
The EU is currently consulting with signatories to determine which commitments should be formalized into formal regulations under the DSA. It remains unclear whether all of the Code's requirements will be included in the final law. The European Commission has not yet announced when the norm will officially come into force, but previously said it would come into force “at the earliest” by January 2025.
read more Verge here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering free speech and online censorship issues.
