The European Commission today published, on the basis of the Digital Services Act, its guidelines for mitigating election risks on very large platforms. They cover all elections, but include special provisions for the European elections in June. The Commission recognizes that they will generate substantial costs for platforms. One of the promises made by the European institutions when adopting the DSA was to create a calmer online world in the run-up to elections, with less disinformation and manipulation by foreign powers. However, the DSA does not oblige platforms to remove all problematic content, still less does it require them to weigh up the truthfulness or otherwise of content uploaded by their users. Instead, the text simply requires them…
