The European Commission on Wednesday rejected Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s claims that EU data regulations amounted to censorship of social media. The Commission clarified that the laws only require major platforms to remove illegal content.
Zuckerberg criticized European data laws, stating, “Europe has an ever-increasing number of laws institutionalizing censorship, making it difficult to innovate there.” Meta has reportedly discontinued its fact-checking programs in the U.S., with Zuckerberg pledging to collaborate with President-elect Donald Trump to combat global censorship.
The EU executive emphasized that its Digital Services Act does not mandate platforms to remove lawful content but focuses on eliminating harmful material, such as content endangering children or democracy. “We absolutely refute any claims of censorship,” a Commission spokesperson stated.
Meta announced plans to replace its U.S. fact-checking system with a “community notes” approach, akin to the system used by X (formerly Twitter). This model enables contributors to flag potentially misleading posts and publish notes if diverse viewpoints agree on their usefulness.
For such a system to operate in the EU, platforms must conduct risk assessments and submit them to the Commission.
While the EU does not dictate specific content moderation methods, any system implemented must be effective. “We are assessing the effectiveness of content moderation policies used by platforms within the EU,” the spokesperson added.
The Commission assured EU users would continue to benefit from independent fact-checking for content originating in the U.S.
