The inevitable slide of the EU’s voluntary — at least in name — disinformation code (the 2022 version) into mandatory rules integrated into the Digital Services Act (DSA) censorship law will become enforceable this July.
But just in time for Germany’s early elections, scheduled for the last week of February, large platforms – Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and X – participated in a “stress test” of their readiness to investigate risks to “civic discourse and electoral process” related to that vote.
This is taken by some reports to mean that although the voluntary code will become obligatory in the summer, the integration before February 23 in Germany means that platforms with more than 45 million users in the EU will implement “disinformation” rules, acting a “voluntary” basis one last time – in a bid “to avoid future legal risks.”
The election campaign in Germany has been marred by contentious attempts by those still in power to discredit and even censor the rising opposition. This is happening both through domestic institutions and by “delegating” some of such efforts to the EU.
The “stress test” done in late January and the reports around code integration timeline fit well in the overall trend. It was conducted by the European Commission and Germany’s digital services coordinator.
The code’s main purpose is to get signatories to step up content “moderation” – which critics see as code word for censorship, but which the EU, along with the DSA, explains as a way to combat illegal content and “protect users.”
Among the measures that will become enforceable when the code becomes mandatory is the requirement for tech companies to come up with “stronger measures to demonetize disinformation.”
What Brussels refers to as “the strengthened” 2022 Code of Practice on Disinformation made its debut in 2018, covering platforms, advertisers, and trade associations.
The one that deals with “disinformation” is one of many “voluntary codes” the EU has turned to, effectively imposing its policies on internet companies over these last years. Another concerning “hate speech” has already been integrated into the DSA.
Reports indicate that the EU may be trying to follow the entire censorship blueprint by adding a new code to the DSA – this one specifically for advertisers.
