Social media ‘unresponsive’ to disinformation requests ahead of Slovak election: report

Requests by the Slovak authorities for Meta to remove misleading and deceptive content ahead of elections at the end of September were met with an inadequate and ineffective response, according to a report on disinformation, which also calls for an EU-wide solution to force Telegram to comply with similar requests, published by the Interior Ministry’s Centre for Combating Hybrid Threats.

In drafting the report, the ministry’s centre monitored Meta’s Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Telegram between May and September. The centre forwarded deceptive and misleading content to Slovakia’s Council for Media Services, requesting platforms to take them down.

“Despite statements by representatives of social networks and online platforms about their readiness to prevent the influence of elections by spreading disinformation, their response to the notifications sent was slow, ineffective and, above all, insufficient,” the report writes.

Meta “notably” failed to remove posts containing demonstrably false and misleading claims in a timely manner, allowing the content to be shared further, it added.

In its report, the Centre also pointed to inconsistencies in Meta’s decisions to withdraw or retain content, such as the deepfake video of Michal Šimečka, leader of Progressive Slovakia, and journalist Monika Tódová, in which they appeared to conspire to manipulate the election results, which the report said “had a significant impact on the credibility of the elections”.

While the council submitted a total of 48 claims to Meta concerning the deepfake video, the platform removed 13, flagged 13 as false, but allowed 22 to remain online.

The Centre also notes that the video can still be viewed on Telegram despite the social media company having received a request from the Slovak Media Services Council. While these elections were supposed to be the first to be covered by the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), Telegram is not subject to its obligations.

“The fact that the online platform Telegram has demonstrably become a major source for the dissemination of misleading and false information with an impact on the conduct of the elections, but is not subject to the obligations under the DSA, nor is it a signatory to the Code of Practice on Disinformation, is a very serious problem,” says the centre, adding that the situation requires “a more comprehensive solution at EU level.”

(Barbara Zmušková | Euractiv.sk)