Facebook Faces Scrutiny For Allowing Russian Disinformation To Spread

Ever since the controversial 2016 presidential election in the US, Facebook has taken steps to detect and remove misinformation spreading on its platforms from hostile countries like Russia and China. However, leaders in Europe are apparently unsatisfied with the social media giant’s solutions, opening up a probe into the company this week to determine if “deceptive advertisements and disinformation” on these platforms could be breaking the law.

In addition, the European Commission’s probe will investigate Facebook’s promise to limit political advertising while also looking into why the company shut down a popular tool for misinformation researchers.

“This Commission has created means to protect European citizens from targeted disinformation and manipulation by third countries. If we suspect a violation of the rules, we act,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “This is true at all times, but especially in times of democratic elections. Big digital platforms must live up to their obligations to put enough resources into this and today’s decision shows that we are serious about compliance.”

For its part, Facebook said that it has a “well established” process for removing threatening content from bad actors. However, this intense probe will put that to the test.




Recommended Resources

bitdefender Choose what the experts use: award-winning cybersecurity you can trust and rely on.

PIA Surf the web truly incognito. Try Bitdefender Premium VPN, the ultra-fast VPN that keeps your online identity and activities safe from hackers, ISPs and snoops.

System Mechanic 14 – Make your computer run like new. Winner of 200+ Editor’s Choice awards!

Fake AI-Generated Images Are Running Wild On Facebook Previous post Fake AI-Generated Images Are Running Wild On Facebook Lawsuit Claims Facebook Is Required To Give You More Control Of Your Own Feed Next post Lawsuit Claims Facebook Is Required To Give You More Control Of Your Own Feed