17
Dec
2024
Watch
Misinformation and disinformation on social media platforms, such as TikTok, and related risks to the integrity of elections in Europe (debate)
Mr President, Commissioner McGrath, for the last decade, democracy has been in retreat, and the idea of democratic recession is not new. Freedom House tells us that, in 2024, the year of elections, global freedom declined for the 18th consecutive year. Now, just 20 % of the global population live in fully free countries. And layered on this already serious problem of democratic backsliding is X, TikTok and others putting the interests of their companies ahead of the interests of the public. We need to stop people being forced into narrower and narrower corridors of thought. We need a free marketplace of ideas and a Digital Services Act that's prepared to bear its teeth. I welcome the investigations into TikTok's risk assessment policy for new features and into its age verification practices. Ahead of the Irish national election just a few weeks ago, an NGO, Global Witness, placed paid adverts on TikTok to test its capacity to stop disinformation. One video claimed that you needed two COVID vaccinations to vote, and it was approved by TikTok. This proves that the need for a very strong Digital Services Act remains very acute.