The flood of disinformation and illegal content disseminated on social media platforms on events in Israel and Gaza and the recent terrorist attacks in France and Belgium are deeply disturbing. This proliferation is an unacceptable situation that must be brought to an end. Platforms have responsibilities — including the removal of illegal content — in keeping with the Digital Services Act. We welcome Commissioner Breton’s efforts to hold internet platforms to account and call for the DSA to be implemented in full within established deadlines.
Morten Løkkegaard (Denmark, Venstre), vice-president of Renew Europe who seats in the committee on the Internal market and Consumer protection (IMCO) has declared:
“Social media platforms have become a central part of our modern democracy. Our elections are jeopardised by systematic, manipulative disinformation, disseminated by agents of hostile states or extremist groups. While protecting our freedom of speech, we need proper implementation of the DSA to better counter disinformation, and, additionally, to consider if more legislation is necessary to force social media platforms to combat systematic disinformation sufficiently.”
Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (France, Renaissance), Renew Europe coordinator in the committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has added:
"A tsunami of unbearable photos and videos that have been pouring onto social networks in Europe in recent days. With wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East, information is used as a weapon of mass destruction. The risk of radicalisation and polarization is real. With the DSA, we have the tools to put an end to the online Wild West; we must use it! If they don't want blood on their hands, the CEOs of X, Meta, TikTok and YouTube must act."
The Renew Europe Group has repeatedly called for Elon Musk (X) and Shou Zi Chew (TikTok) to appear before the European Parliament to be held to account, in November 2022 and March 2023 respectively. This call is more relevant and valid than ever.
