After Mark Zuckerberg, head of Meta, abandoned "fact-checking" in the United States, will Google do the same, this time in Europe? The American giant, owner of YouTube, would be ready to drop its European commitments on "fact-checking", the verification of facts, according to information from Contexte on Tuesday, January 14.
The Mountain View group reportedly expressed itself in this sense last December, during a meeting of the signatories of the "European code of good practice against disinformation". This charter against fake news in the European Union (EU) will soon be integrated into the DSA, the "Digital Services Act" (European regulation on digital services) which imposes moderation obligations on web platforms.
Google was already not cooperating enough with fact checkers, before this possible change in policy?
The information, which has not been officially confirmed by Google for the moment, would therefore add the American giant to the camp of those who support platform moderation without fact-checking. In this category, we now find, in addition to Elon Musk whose X network is moderated by Community Notes, Meta (Facebook, Instagram), founded by Mark Zuckerberg: a choice that could lead to amplifying the resonance and reach of false information on these platforms.
The two men both defend the idea of "total freedom of expression" on their social networks, an idea also dear to Donald Trump, the future president of the United States, who has long accused the platforms of "censorship".
As a reminder, the European code of good practice against disinformation is a set of non-binding rules that digital giants such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok had voluntarily agreed to respect from 2018 in Europe. For example, it includes obligations regarding transparency, content moderation, removal of "propaganda content"... In other words, safeguards to prevent social networks from becoming (more) echo chambers for fake news.
However, according to our colleagues at Contexte, who rely on several participants at the December meeting, Google announced on this occasion that it intended to renounce its commitments to support fact-checking programs for Google Search and YouTube. This non-binding commitment had already been deemed insufficient by European fact checkers. On December 18, for example, the European association EFCSN noted in its report that "YouTube is not respecting its commitment to cooperate with the fact-checking community".
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