German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser met the operators of the world’s biggest tech platforms to demand that they boost efforts to protect the country’s February election from foreign interference, as they are obliged to under the EU’s DSA.
Companies attending today’s talks included Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and X – all designated Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the DSA, meaning they have additional legal obligations placed on them to protect European democracy and civil rights.
The meeting did focus on measures against targeted disinformation campaigns, including those aimed at the electoral process or candidates, and hate crimes such as death threats, with the Interior Ministry singling out Russia as “the most conspicuous actor” in attempts at foreign influence.
Ahead of the talks, Faeser said that she definitely considered it a possibility to influence the platforms’ actions and remind them of their obligations. “I do believe that the platform operators will react,” she told broadcasters RTL and ntv.
That a politician would deem such a reminder necessary points to a sea-change among the VLOPs. Google has withdrawn from rules on fact-checking, and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced his company would do the same.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in the job that supports these moves and paves the way for a standoff with the EU on obligations such as fact-checking.
In Germany specifically, Elon Musk’s endorsement of the far-right AfD and livestream with its Chancellor candidate Alice Weidel also led to over a week of demands that the EU take action.
That culminated in this week’s European Parliament debate, at the end of which tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen announced that the Commission would double the number of staff working on DSA enforcement.
The Commissioner also illuminated a path forward: the DSA’s crisis response mechanism, which, when activated, allows the EU to act against big platforms to protect a national election, something that is otherwise out of the EU’s remit.
After today’s talks, Faeser reminded there are several laws on the books that the platforms must follow that will help protect the country’s elections, chief among which was the DSA.
The law also has support from German Digital Minister Volker Wissing, who said on RBB Inforadio, that he believes the EU is on the right track to tackle online disinformation.
“We make European law – not Mr Trump,” Wissing said.
(MM)