Before the federal election: Faeser to platform operators: delete criminal offenses more quickly

In order to ensure that the federal election is protected from illegitimate influence, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) is holding the operators of social networks accountable. According to her ministry, the focus of a meeting between Faeser and representatives from Google, Meta, Microsoft, Tiktok and X on Wednesday was measures against hate crime and disinformation campaigns that target the electoral process or the candidates. Other topics included the labeling of political advertising and content that was created or manipulated with the help of artificial intelligence.

“The major Internet platforms bear responsibility for what happens on their platforms,” said Faeser. The examination of criminal content must be increased and not restricted. What is also necessary is “more transparency about the algorithms so that they do not fuel dangerous radicalization processes, especially among young people.”

EU Commission wants information about algorithms from X

There are several proceedings underway at EU level against US billionaire Elon Musk’s Platform X for alleged violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The aim of the procedures is to check whether the platform complies with the regulations to curb hate speech and disinformation. A spokesman for the EU Commission said last week that the platform would be asked to “send us internal documents about any recent changes to algorithms.”

Most recently, Mark Zuckerberg caused a stir with his Meta group, which, in addition to Facebook, also includes Instagram, WhatsApp and the short message service Threads. After the election of US President Donald Trump as US president, he ended his cooperation with fact checkers in the USA.