| The upcoming EU elections will be a major stress test for the bloc’s digital rulebook, and particularly the Digital Services Act (DSA), a landmark content moderation law. European Commission officials, MEPs, and member states have been ringing the alarm over the safety of elections and online spaces, given the increasing number of foreign interference threats and disinformation campaigns. The DSA, in force since February, is supposed to fight such content, which can jeopardise the elections, by designating very large platforms, such as Meta, which then have to follow rules on transparency and removal of illegal or harmful content. It’s a “complete toolbox”, the Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton said in an October 2023 speech. With 27 countries heading to the polls amid high political tensions, content moderators might have their work cut out for them over the weekend. Just how successful the DSA has been might also become apparent. There has been a barrage of investigations into platforms, particularly Meta, in recent months. The Facebook and Instagram parent company is suspected of DSA breaches for having insufficient moderation to fight disinformation, among other things. But these measures do not appear to be enough. In late April, the Commission published a set of guidelines for very large platforms of the elections. But these guidelines only came a little over a month before the elections – and they weren’t binding. “In view of numerous upcoming elections and not least those to the European Parliament, the Commission strongly encourages” large platforms “to implement these guidelines quickly and comprehensively and welcomes assessments from researchers and civil society organisations on the effectiveness of the risk mitigation measures taken,” the guidelines said. | 